Amerijet Strike!
 

If Teamsters and management do not reach an agreement on August 27, 09 Amerijet pilots and flight engineers will go on strike. I guess they've had enough abuse, ajt crews work under the worst conditions imaginable. Low (ridiculous low pay), long days, min days off, no toilets, not even drinking water and poor treatment are a few of the things they deal with day in and day out. I please ask of all fellow professional pilots to support our brothers at ajt. Amerijet not only threatens the well being of its crews but the entire industry, as they are very close to starting B767 operations and expansion into new markets worldwide, all this believe it or not under the same conditions as the B727 same pay ohhh yeah not counting the 10% pay cut they recently imposed and all the other crap. So again please support our fellow aviators in any way possible.

Read on another forum that the strike indeed did go off, but that the company
is operating as normal. How does that happen when the pilots are the ones
on strike?

I think another forum said two of Amerijet's planes are flying. That is probably management pilots.

One Amerijet 727 moved with a scab crew, empty from MIA yesterday. ABX chartered a Lear, N88NJ to fly a management crew to MIA yesterday to move one of the ABX 767's on contract, as the ABX pilots have refused to cross the picket line.

To their integrity, after 30 minutes, the crew walked off the plane and also refused to fly.

Today, CargoJet, a Canadian freight operator was contracted and has moved a 767 to MIA to haul freight and break the picket line. Word is the line is solid. At the request of an Amerijet pilot, I posted the following on the Canadian board:


Eminent Brothers to the North:

As you may or may not know, Amerijet (Teamsters Airline Division) in MIA is now on strike. Over five years of negotiations asking for the 10% back that the company took this year when the pilots would not decertify the union and a 3% increase over the 1999 pay rates and a 4 year contract. The company is demanding the right to dock 2 days pay (5 hours) for each day a crewmember calls in sick and a 5 year contract with NO PAY RAISES in the last 20 months!!http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/sr...s/censored.gif

In addition, they not only refuse to provide for basic physiological needs inflight, they refuse to provide even drinking water or a box lunch for flights.

U.S. airline pilots have stood with them. UPS (IPA), American(APA) Southwest (SWAPA), USAir and America West (USAPA), IBT Local 1224 (ABX, Atlas, Polar and Kalitta), and the airlines of IBT Local 747...all stand in solidarity. Unions across Florida and the U.S. are supporting them. The Venezuelan government has impounded a plane for violating their laws.:D

Today, in a bid to break the strike, they have chartered a CargoJet 767 to fly through the legal picket line. They will stop at nothing to break these pilots, who make so little money they qualify for government assistance and food stamps.

Please assist the Amerijet pilots in any way possible. If you fly for CargoJet or know somone who does, please forward this. Please DO NOT cross their picket lines and fly struck freight. Canadian labor unions are being contacted about this as well and being asked for their assistance.

PLEASE DON'T FLY STRUCK WORK! STAND UP FOR YOUR INDUSTRY!!

I just want to wish you guys all the best and Good Luck in the battle. I just hope the Teamsters do the frikken job they get paid for, unlike some of there past performances. Hang in there and fight it all the way !::ok:

Flying jets without toilets . . . ?
 

Haven't heard that before. How could your FAA inspectors allow that? You guys should also contact OSHA, your federal "Occupational Safety-Health Administration" on this incredibly bizarre issue. :eek:

Or, the local county health department at the company HQ/base.
Could be a rather large fine and/or cease/disist order, leading to shutdown.

Apparently CargoJet scabbed last night with one flight. Amerijet has one airplane that has now been impounded by the Venezuelan government for violation of it's laws.

This was emailed today:

UPDATE

Labor Rallies to Support Amerijet Pilots and Flight Engineers.
U.S. Congressman Hastings Weighs In. Congressman Hastings Deeply Troubled by and Concerned about the Unsafe and Unsanitary Conditions Amerijet Forces on its Pilots and Flight Engineers. Amerijet Now Attempting to Out Source its Cargo Operations to a Foreign Carrier

The pilots and flight engineers of Ft. Lauderdale based Amerijet Air Cargo remain on strike in their demands for a first contract providing for fair wages and benefits and safe and sanitary working conditions. Major passenger and cargo airline pilot groups across the U.S. have joined with the 62 Amerijet flight deck crewmembers and are showing their support for the South Florida-based pilots, flight engineers and their families. In addition to those pilot groups from the U.S. cargo and passenger airlines who have promised not carry Amerijet freight on their aircraft, several major national trucking firms have also joined in support, including UPS, YRC and ABF. At Miami International Airport, Teamster-represented maintenance workers and cleaners are also refusing to cross the picket lines at the cargo facility on the west side of the airport.

In a desperate attempt to begin moving the backlog of hundreds of thousands of pounds of perishable and time critical freight that is growing daily since this past Thursday when the airline walked out of negotiations; Amerijet’s management is now attempting to hire foreign airlines to stem the backlog of undelivered freight. The Teamsters are also fielding reports that Amerijet management has begun a campaign of threatening crewmembers if they don’t cross the picket lines.

The Amerijet pilots and flight engineers have been joined in large numbers by pilots from UPS, Atlas Air, and Kalitta; all of whom are Amerijet competitors. Additionally, the pilot unions at American, USAirways, America West, Southwest and others have joined the Amerijet pilots and flight engineers on the picket lines and are contributing their time and money in support. Other South Florida unions, as well as organized labor in the Caribbean and South America are also supporting the strikers.

U.S. Congressman from Florida Alcee Hastings, (Dem-23rd), has also been advised of the dispute and is deeply troubled and concerned that Amerijet hasexhibited such a cavalier and callous disregard for the safety and sanitary conditions of its pilots and flight engineers. Congressman Hastings is a nationally and internationally acclaimed champion of working people and works tirelessly to protect their fundamental human rights. Congressman Hastings is also deeply concerned that Amerijet walked away from the negotiations with the Teamsters and that it caused the strike. He is dismayed that any air transportation company would insist on a sick leave policy that punishes people for calling off sick by docking their pay. Such a policy, especially when used by Amerijet against its pilots and flight engineers – who are among the lowest paid in the entire industry – forces the crewmembers to fly sick. Such a policy is dangerous and unsafe. It is also eerily similar to the commuter air tragedy in Buffalo, New York earlier this year, where one of the pilots killed in that terrible accident was so sick that she should not even have entered to cockpit but felt that she could not afford to call off sick.

Congressman Hastings is also concerned that Amerijet’s largest stock holder, a Miami-based investment company named HIG Capital, has not taken steps to ensure that Amerijet maintain safe, sanitary and fair working conditions. The Teamsters are also troubled by HIG’s apparent lack of concern over this matter. No company should capitalize on the misery of its or its companies’ workers. We remain hopeful, that HIG Capital will play a constructive role in resolving the dispute caused by Amerijet’s management team.

We hope that Amerjet’s CEO, David Bassett, will come to his senses, but only time will tell whether he will correct the mess that he and his management team have created. Had he spent as much time negotiating in good faith and integrity as has trying to break the spirit of the striking pilots and flight engineers with intimidation, lies and fear, there would never have been a strike. Instead, he and his management team have misled Amerijet’s customers and are now trying desperately to find foreign airlines and employees who will take U.S. jobs and fly a small portion of his customers’ cargo to cover up for his bad management. There is also a concern that Bassett is scrambling to move to market -- on a priority basis over Amerijet’s other customers -- perishable fish from another company in which he holds an ownership interest. Since he has been unsuccessful in having U.S. carriers’ pilots cross the picket lines, earlier today he and his management team turned to Ontario, Canada based Cargojet, Ltd. to enter the U.S. and fly across the picket lines.

Today, Cargojet flew into Miami to pick up Amerijet’s cargo that is set for delivery to Port of Spain, Trinidad. In outsourcing its cargo operations to a foreign airline, they are signaling that they have no interest in being an honest American company and will bring as many foreign nationals as needed into the U.S. to take American jobs and make a profit off American workers.

"Haven't heard that before. How could your FAA inspectors allow that? You guys should also contact OSHA, your federal "Occupational Safety-Health Administration" on this incredibly bizarre issue."

Find a reg that requires toilets on aircraft. And because the FAA has jurisdiction over aircraft, OSHA is preempted form enforcing its regs on aircraft.

What does the airplane's MEL say about the toilet? Ours (747) says:

Give 'em heck!!!
 

Most of the folks reading/following this thread and Amerijet's despair have either been in a similar situation or are in one now. Personally, my hat goes off to the crews who have walked off the job and remain until things are rectified. :ok:

You and your families will be in my thoughts and prayers for a successful outcome.

The Master MEL for 727s has a dash under minimum required. I'll bet Amerijet's says "Not Used."

Lavatory installation should be a function of fuel tank capacity.

If you can haul enough fuel for a flight more than, say, two hours, then a lavatory should be installed.

Just my opinion. And since I'm in MIA with some free time, I'll be picketing on Monday with my Teamster brothers to show my support.

Good luck.
:ok:

You tube
 

Watched your video. While I certainly wish you the best and hope you "give 'em h$ll", maybe next time a bit more eloquence in your delivery. We ARE professionals and should be treated/compensated as such. Maybe losing the ballcap/crossed arms and a tie would serve the message with a bit more integrity. I've spent time in MIA during summer, so you certainly don't have to explain the heat. Flown freight, so I know there is not a need for a tie there either. Call me old school, but the DELIVERY of a VERY IMPORTANT message is just as important as the message itself, and you have chosen a large viewing audience with youtube.

Good luck to all, and thanks for having the b@lls to maybe turn the tide for us all.

Not my video...it came to me from an AJT pilot. Can't speak to the ballcap or crossed arms, but given what they deal with, I can understand. Certainly not a place that lends it self to precision picketing in perfectly starched shirts. In fact, that would probably lend itself to the generally held opinion that pilots are overpaid.

Wait!!..$32,000 a year pre tax. Of course...they ARE!

I'm wondering how much management makes...:mad:

Courtesy of youtube.

Canadian Scab Outfit CargoJet is flying their B762 under the Amerijet callsign now.

If Americans went into Canada to break a strike you can sure as hell bet the socialist government in Canada would be all over CNN crying rape!

ughwhatajob...

I gave your post some thought and made a phone call. The guys in the YouTube video have been on the picket line non-stop since the picket line went up Thursday at 0001 local time. Both have been sleeping in their cars in shifts and walking the line. They've been in rain, heat and the usual lovely August MIA weather. The one guy happened to have a clean shirt brought to him.

That being the case, and that level of dedication...which very few would exhibit, I'm not gonna be too upset with the way they look.

Am I understanding this correctly...there are no toilets in the aircraft???!!!!:confused: