For those thinking about coming to Atlas, new info from the ExCo, cleared for general publication. In today's hiring binge, you may have better options:
Chairman’s Update
Dear Fellow Atlas Crew Members,
I want to take a moment to brief you on a very disappointing set of events that have taken place over the past two days here in New York City. Your negotiating team came to New York with the expectation of continuing good faith Section 6 negotiations for the purpose of reaching an amended CBA. On the first day, Monday, March 14, the company did not meet with us until 4:44 p.m., and then only to tell us that they had no response to the four outstanding CBA articles which the union negotiating team had presented to them last month. It was obvious that the company had done no work on any of it and, again, was unprepared. This, despite the company’s assurances at the last meeting that its negotiators would return with Article 30 (Uniforms) and respond to the Framework Agreement that we had provided to the company’s senior representatives this past December. Quite simply, the company again reneged on its commitments.
At Monday’s late, abbreviated meeting, the company indicated that it would not be responding to any articles which the union had presented and would not be presenting any proposals of its own either. The company stated that it would, however, respond to the union’s framework proposal on how to proceed with Section 6 negotiations for both the Atlas and Southern pilots.
On Tuesday, March 15, at approximately 3:00 p.m. Local 1224 President Captain Dan Wells received a last minute call from John Dietrich advising that the company would attempt to force the union and the Atlas and Southern Air pilots into an amalgamation process. Dietrich’s plan is to force the pilots to pay for Atlas’ $110 million cash acquisition of SAI and to pay for the more than $100 million in litigation settlement payments and FAA fines that it has racked up over the last few months. Dietrich’s focus is, therefore, to once again deny the Atlas pilots our rightful ability to proceed down the Section 6 negotiations path. A few minutes later, at around 3:15 p.m., the Atlas managers, their lawyers and agents entered for the first time of the day to present their version of what they are calling a “Transition Agreement”. This document is punitive, anti-union, underhanded, and possibly illegal for many reasons.
It is clear that the company is attempting to undermine and suppress the legal rights of our crew members. The path suggested by the company will devastate and set back, in a very detrimental fashion, the lives and careers of most of our pilots.
It is now time for you to voice your displeasure to the company. We must and will remain professional at all times, but we must lawfully and firmly let management know that we will not accept their assault on our jobs, our wages, our benefits and our profession. If we don’t, we will be stuck with our current CBA or something less. The company says it recognizes that the world has changed and is not seeking to cut our pilots’ wages and benefits, but history tells us that Dietrich’s words are meaningless. Our CBA is the product of an amalgamation/interest arbitration, and the company and its lawyers maneuvered that process to obtain sub-standard, arbitrator-imposed contract terms that we are now stuck under. The amalgamation/interest arbitration that the company is pushing for now would require an arbitrator to choose terms from our sub-standard CBA or worse, Southern Air’s bankruptcy contract. The company anticipates that it will take 12-15 months to reach its objective. That timeline is based on the company’s intention to force the pilots to accept it. The company has also indicated that if we do not accept its plan, the process will drag on for many, many years. The company’s entire approach is not acceptable.
I will have more details as we move forward. I can assure you that this EXCO and your union will fight tooth and nail with everything at our disposal and more. However, we cannot do this without you doing the same. The time is now to engage forcefully in what will be a long, hard-fought war between Atlas Air and us, the crew members.
Fraternally,
Captain Robert J. Kirchner
Executive Council Chairman
APA Teamsters Local 1224