Cargo Pilots in Florida Picket for New Deals
A pair of contract protests Dec. 7 by unionized passenger airline and cargo pilots in Broward County, Florida, could signal turbulent skies ahead for some travelers and air package carriers.
A contingent of about 70 pilots from contract air cargo operators of DHL Express staged an informational picket Dec. 7 outside its U.S. headquarters in Plantation, Florida, to voice their concerns over lagging contract negotiations.
Dressed in full uniform, the pilots from Atlas Air and Southern Air walked in solidarity as they held aloft signs that touted their grievances. Some read: "DHL pilots ready to strike," while others questioned, "Can DHL deliver? Fair contract now."
Atlas and Southern are subsidiaries of Purchase, New York-based Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, which has an office in Miami and whose customers also include Amazon.
RELATED: Pilot strike may hurt Amazon’s air operation during holidays
The unionized pilots — represented by the Airline Professionals Association, International Brotherood of Teamsters Local 1224 — are seeking a resumption of contract negotiations with Atlas Air Worldwide management after a hiatus of more than a year, a union representative said.
"We are seeking to renegotiate our contract, which was supposed to be open last September, and the company for over a year has refused to come to the bargaining table," said Patrick Petersen, an Atlas pilot and vice chairman for Teamsters Local 1224.
"The problem that we have is our manning is going down at an alarming rate," Petersen explained Dec. 7 during the picketing. "We're losing pilots to other carriers such as FedEx and UPS because those carriers have competitive contracts with good work rules and good protections for their employees."
"We are substantially below the industry standard on our contract both in compensation but more importantly on our work rules," Petersen asserted.
FedEx Corp. ranks No. 2 and UPS Inc. No. 1 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.
DHL spokeswoman Beatrice Garcia said the Dec. 7 pilots picket wasn't expected to interfere with operations of the international express services provider.
RELATED: UPS airline mechanics heat up talks with strike authorization
"The action that they're doing is completely legal and it's not a work stoppage and we don't expect any kind of service interruptions," Garcia said. "They are our partner airlines and their contract negotiations are with their [employers] not with us."
Efforts to contact Atlas Air Worldwide officials Dec. 7 via phone and e-mail were not successful.
As for what lies ahead, Petersen said that while a strike isn't imminent, a majority of the pilots' contingent has voted to walk out in the future if necessary.
"We cannot go on strike because of a law called Railway Labor Act, so we have to work even though our contract has expired unless we have a major dispute within that contract. So if the company was to do something that was to create a major dispute, we would go on strike."
For now, though, the approximately 1,700 pilots and the union are awaiting a decision on their application for mediation from the National Mediation Board.
"We would much prefer to negotiate and get a contract than to go on strike," said Petersen. "Strikes help no one."
Earlier on Dec. 7, a two-day protest concluded in Miramar, Florida, outside Spirit Airlines' headquarters where more than 200 pilots who belong to the Air Line Pilots Association and supporters gathered to voice dissatisfaction with the pace of their contract negotiations.
It's been more than two years since the Spirit pilots have been in talks with airline management for a new industry standard contract that would enable it to attract qualified pilots, according to ALPA.
"Over just the past few years, we've seen our airline grow at an unheard of rate," Capt. Stuart Morrison, master executive council chairman of the ALPA contingent at Spirit, said in a statement this week. "Without a contract that offers industry-standard pay rates, profit sharing and retirement, we simply cannot sustain this growth and attract the qualified pilots this airline needs."
Contract discussions between the parties are now under the supervision of the National Mediation Board in Washington, D.C.
In May, the majority of Spirit's more than 2,200 unionized flight attendants represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA voted to accept a new five-year contract with the carrier following nine years of negotiations.
Spirit is the second-busiest airline at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, with 19.6% of the passenger traffic this year through October, airport data show. It's also where Spirit operates its largest concentration of flights to Latin America, the Caribbean and around the United States.
In a statement in response to the pickets, Spirit spokesman Paul Berry said: "Our pilots do a great job. We are committed to reaching a fair agreement with ALPA that provides for our pilots and allows Spirit to continue to grow as an airline and provide low fares to our customers. We have additional dates scheduled to meet with the pilots and will continue to work toward an agreement."
In June 2010, after four years of failed contract talks with Spirit, the pilots went on a five-day strike that left thousands of passengers stranded system-wide. A month later, the pilots agreed to a five-year contract that included pay raises and "industry-leading" work rules, according to the union.
