First Contract For Dispatchers Follows Five-Year Effort

Following a tentative agreement on May 6, 2016, Teamster flight dispatchers at NetJets have voted unanimously to ratify their first-ever contract. The vote was 38 to 0 in favor of accepting the agreement.

The contract will run for five years and contains an average wage increase of 18.5 percent in the first year, with signing bonuses worth thousands of dollars. It will also bring flight dispatchers’ pensions in line with other unionized worker groups at NetJets and ends at-will employment, replacing it with just-cause protections and access to shop steward and union representation.

“On behalf of the entire Airline Division, I want to commend this group of workers for their unity and resolve in achieving a first contract,” said Capt. David Bourne, Director of the Teamsters Airline Division. “When this unionization effort began five years ago, it was with this outcome in mind: an agreement that would give these workers higher wages, better benefits and more job security. The contract that they will be working under achieves all of these goals.”

“This long battle to raise working standards and conditions for this group of workers has come to an excellent conclusion,” said Paul Suffoletto, President of Teamsters Local 284. “The workers endured a lot over the course of this campaign. They showed toughness and resolve, and were determined to not give up their fight to better themselves. They’ve won and this five-year agreement is a fitting victory prize.”

(Source: Teamsters news release)

FMI: www.teamster.org