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."

FMI: www.amerijet.com, www.teamsters.org