Pilots Unite With Teamsters Local 1108 In Ohio

Pilots at luxury on-demand air travel companies Flexjet and Flight Options voted today to join the Teamsters Union. Following the vote tallied by the National Mediation Board (NMB), the 670 pilots in the class will join Teamsters Local 1108, in Richmond Heights, Ohio.

On Sept. 30, 2015, the NMB determined that Flexjet and Flight Options, wholly owned subsidiaries of OneSky Flight, LLC, are operating as a single transportation system for representation purposes under the Railway Labor Act. This ruling paved the way for a Teamster-represented Flight Options group of pilots to vote with a fellow group of Flexjet pilots to be represented as one class.

“It’s a great day for these pilots,” said Captain Efrem Vojta, President of Local 1108. “They’ve faced significant pushback from management during this campaign and we are proud of them for sticking together despite these obstacles.”

Prompted by the merger of these two companies into a single subsidiary group, the vote was a referendum on the treatment of the pilots in the workplace. In August, an arbitrator found that Flexjet violated federal law when it terminated three pilots for helping to organize other pilots, a union activity protected by federal law. The pilots returned to their jobs after an arbitrator ruled that they were wrongfully terminated and awarded them damages.

“This election was all about fairness,” said Capt. Rick Dubinsky, an organizer for the campaign. “These pilots work incredibly hard and deserve fair rules in the workplace. We are happy they’ve voted to join us and will continue to fight to ensure they are given respect and have a strong Teamster contract.”

“I want to thank everyone at Local 1108 for all of their hard work that led to this successful election,” said Capt. David Bourne, Director of the Teamsters Airline Division. “I also want to extend a warm welcome to the Teamster family to this class of workers on behalf of everyone at the Teamsters and in the Airline Division. We are thrilled you chose to be represented by us and we are ready to work for you.”

(Source: Teamsters news release)

FMI: www.teamster.org