Striking Crewmembers Reach Agreement On Wages, Conditions
Flight crew members for Amerijet
International, a cargo airline, Monday approved a first contract
with the company. This is the pilots' first collective bargaining
agreement after five years of negotiations and a strike that began
August 27.
The pilots and flight engineers voted 35 to 3 for the contract.
The pilots fly Amerijet's five Boeing 727s and, beginning next
year, two leased Boeing 767s, to and from Miami International
Airport, the Caribbean Islands and South America.
"We had tremendous industry support for our Amerijet pilots,"
said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General
President. "This contract is a major step forward for the pilots,
who first voted for Teamster representation more than five years
ago."
The pilots went on strike at the end of a 30-day cooling off
period imposed by a federal mediator. The National Mediation Board
called both the pilots and the company back to the table on
Tuesday, September 8.
Amerijet pilots received support during the strike from Teamster
pilots at Atlas Air, Polar Air Cargo and Kalitta, and members of
the Teamsters Building and Construction Trades Department. Wide
spread industry support came from pilot unions of APA (American
Airlines), USAPA (US Air), SWAPA (Southwest Airlines), JetBlue, IPA
(UPS Pilots), CAPA (Coalition of Airline Pilots Association), PATCO
(Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization), NATCA
(National Air Traffic Controllers Association) and ALPA (Air Line
Pilots Association). Teamster-represented maintenance workers and
cleaners at Miami International Airport refused to cross the picket
lines. Other unions in South Florida, the Caribbean and South
America supported the strikers including the United Petroleum
Workers.
"For me, a major part of the
contract, in addition to wages and benefits, was finally succeeding
in having a revised sick leave policy and the addition of on-board
toilet facilities," said Capt. Kamal Patel, a pilot at Amerijet in
Miami. "When we struck Amerijet a couple of weeks ago they going to
make us continue working in the unsanitary conditions we've been
suffering in. But, now, with the new contract, the addition of
toilet facilities is a written part of the agreement."
"Our negotiating committee held the unit together throughout the
five years we spent negotiating and through the tense two weeks we
just had on the strike line," said Teamsters Airline Division
Director Capt. David Bourne. "I know that the support we received
from Teamster pilots, truck drivers, maintenance workers and
cleaners added a big push toward agreement on favorable terms. So
did help from pilots unions throughout the airline industry."