Atlas Air preparing to Strike

[Ignition Override]

First, just some naiive impressions of the freight industry. A few years ago while going through Memphis, I noticed that Fred Smith actually had either Polar or Gemini 747s etc parked on his ramp. This was a first for me to see in a sea of mostly purple paint, and it was a very graphic tactic against his pilots, with some aircraft paint jobs that stood out in stark contrast to the purple tails! This was during protracted contract negotiations. He claimed that he was ready to shift all of their flying to other carriers, permanently. If he was serious, I would hate to think of the possible ruthlessness which smaller companies might be capable of, especially those which have not made such an effort (in general) to build good morale.

That was a complex situationat FEDEX, with a very fragmented pilot group. Years before, during the first attempt to organize, most seemed to feel that they were "cockpit white-collar middle mgmt" instead of "cockpit/blue collar labor". No pun intended about the light blue uniform shirts. Of course, having originally tried to staple the Flying Tiger pilot group (727s, DC-8s, 747s) at the bottom of the FEDEX pilot list, this said a lot in itself, "Flightcrew Handbook" language or not. "But Fred promised us..."

As it turned out, Fred Smith, despite having indicated to the media (at least my impression) that his pilots would or should have a competitive contract, this is not what Fred ultimately agreed to-UPS has a much better contract, from what FEDEX pilots told me. Maybe the UPS contract was settled after that first FEDEX pilot contract.

I hope you guys at Atlas end up with a very competitive contract, but for the sakes of your careers, be very careful. From what I've read over the last few years, cargo appears to more transferrable than any passenger flying.

I would hate to see you guys starting over again working for a certain charter cargo airline in Michigan...

Let's hope your leadership avoids the trap of underestimating the enemy or the terrain. US airline history has constantly shown that under a GOP Executive branch, labor has few or no powerful sympathizers in Wash. DC. The Southern Airways strike in the early 60s survived only because Kennedy was in the White House.