Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Pilots picket delivery service HQ over contracts
A pair of contract protests Wednesday by unionized passenger airline and cargo pilots in Broward County 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 Wednesday outside its U.S. headquarters in Plantation 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, N.Y.-based Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, which has an office in Miami and whose customers also include Amazon.
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 Wednesday 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.
DHL spokeswoman Beatrice Garcia said Wednesday’s pilots picket wasn’t expected to interfere with operations of the international express services provider.
“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 Wednesday via phone and email 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 roughly 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.”
“We are seeking to renegotiate our contract.” Patrick Petersen, an Atlas pilot and vice chairman for Teamsters Local 1224