Reality Check for the brothers of the smaller companies
So these guys have walked away from their jobs, and apparently its all because they don’t have a bathroom because as minorities they don’t deserve one. Lets think about this….is it about a bathroom because that’s the best rally point they have? And now it’s a racial issue too? Or is it because this makes the best sound bite? Here is a point of view that should make more than a few people really wonder what this is all about. Yes, its true that the IBT and Amerijet have been in talks for the past five years…but consider this…its well know that last year in July Amerijet offered a proposal to the IBT for a full contract for its pilots and flight engineers in an effort to conclude the mediation and reach a contract. The IBT left that meeting and for the next seven months did not return a single call to the pilot negotiating committee, and when the pilots showed up at the IBT offices to ask “whats up?”, they were basically thrown out. Ask the committee. So why were they ignored after all the efforts to date? Well the IBT basically had a major section of their income sector on fire when DHL decided to pull out of the US market and cut their need for the IBT represented ABX crews in Wilmington, Ohio. Understandably that’s where their attention was during these seven months. So what brought the IBT back to the table for the Amerijet crews? My vote says it was the announcement that Amerijet would be leasing five 767’s that ultimately came from the downsized DHL/ABX operations. The IBT saw the breakup of their cash cow at ABX as something to be protected and by returning to the bargaining table immediately announced they would “shut the company down”, in fact, at many a pilot meeting it has been said the IBT repeatedly told its constituents they would shut down Amerijet. Who wins by this effort? The Amerijet crews or the ABX crews? Amerijet published a memo to its crews 14 hours before the strike deadline stating they had accepted a mediation proposal, but in the end the IBT snubbed it. Ask a striker at Amerijet why they are walking and you don’t get a very clear answer. They are very angry though, I would be too if in the back of my mind I was wondering how I had gotten into this position.
The sad part as I see it, is that the IBT are more interested in keeping their cash cow at ABX alive than the small group of Amerijet crews they have sacrificed in order to keep the ABX guys happy. It will all make a good book someday; too bad nobody walking the line can read it now, not that they can fight the big bully machine of the IBT.