PHILADELPHIA (CN) - American Airlines has proudly rechristened one of its jets Shepherd One for the first U.S. tour of Pope Francis, but workers claim in court that the carrier is hiding a dirty secret.
"Choosing profits over safety, and literally poison chemicals over logic, reason, or human empathy, American Airlines has knowingly contaminated the airport, and workplace of plaintiffs, with toxins and bio-toxins ranging from poisonous chemicals to human airplane lavatory waste in the form of solid fecal particulate," a complaint filed Monday in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas states.
David Smith and four co-workers brought the lawsuit against American, its post-merger partner US Airways, and nine corporate officers.
"American Airlines has been so cheap, unsafe, and inappropriate, that it sunk so low as to convert thousands of Deer Park/Nestle Five Gallon Returnable jugs (the kind that sit on top of office water coolers) for its own use, filled them with poison chemicals, and then, unbeknownst to Deer Park/Nestle, and intentionally hiding this toxic and poisonous practice, acting callously, over a period of years, returned those poisoned jugs to the Nestle/Deer Park water delivery system," the complaint states (parentheses in original).
Derived from formaldehyde, the poison in question is known in airline circles as "blue juice." It's the chemical that makes airplane toilet water blue.
Smith and the other fleet-services agents contend that the airline directed them to fill 5-gallon water jugs with the "blue juice," which they then carry to airplane bathrooms after a lavatory-service truck empties the lavatory tanks.
"The practice of poisoning Deer Park/Nestle Five Gallon jugs was created all so that American Airlines did not have to spend money fixing broken valves and other parts on an aging fleet, and all so that American Airlines did not have to spend money purchasing appropriate equipment to do the job," the complaint states.
Smith and his co-workers say the scheme has made Deer Park/Nestle "a victim." Neither Deer Park nor Nestle is a party to the action.
"In addition to the poisoning of the Deer Park/Nestle products, the same practices lead to spread of fecal matter all over the tarmac, into storm drains, in the break rooms, in the aircraft catering service area, and inside the airport, to the derogation of the public health and safety," the complaint states.
Smith says American Airlines puts the emptied jugs back into the stream of water-consuming commerce.
Although the jugs are cleaned out before they are redistributed for water-cooler pickup, the sticky blue chemical substance often remains "all over the inner walls" of the container, according to the complaint.
Smith says each of the four lavatories on Boeing 757 aircraft is cleaned with one jug of blue juice, a process known as "top-filling" that U.S. Airways instituted in 2010 before the merger.
Since then, American Airlines employees have filled approximately 15,000 5-gallon jugs with toxic "blue juice" and redistributed the jugs to Deer Park/Nestle, which then installs them in water coolers at "schools, hospitals, homes and other workplaces throughout America and possibly the world," according to the complaint.
In addition to harming the public, American Airlines has put its employees at risk, forcing them "on threat of their jobs" to hand-fill jugs without legally required protective gear.
