Southwest workers say union agreement did not preempt Illinois biometric law

A group of unionized Southwest baggage handlers have urged a federal appeals court to rule that federal labour law did not preempt their claims that the airline violated a unique Illinois biometric law when it collected their fingerprints. In a brief filed on Wednesday, the workers told the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals that because their collective bargaining agreement did not mention Southwest’s fingerprint-based timekeeping system, their claims did not have to proceed in union arbitration under the federal Railway Labor Act.<br/>