Amerijet on STRIKE!

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[anthony210]

August 27, 2009, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Teamsters Local Union No. 769 has called a legal strike against Amerijet International.

AJT guys need our support please help hold the line!!!
picketing site 24/7
AMERIJET INTERNATIONAL
6185 NW 18 ST BLG 716-B
MIAMI, FL 33142
Amerijet is located by the atc tower, if you get lost ask for cargocity.

Please if you are in south florida make some time and drop by, lets support our brothers at amerijet in their fight. Is our duty as proffesional pilots to protect our industry from this kind of management, we're all in this together your presence will be greatly appreciated by our brothers at amerijet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZFMLh_tZtM

[anthony210]

I am posting this here because I know most of the people here are not pilots and probably still believe pilots are overpaid.

I am a pilot at an airline similar to this one, our ramp is right on the other side of the airport.  They are based in MIA.  Conditions like what those pilots describe are common among low budget cargo airlines.  Average pay at my airline is 25k a year, a typical day can last as long as 14 hours for me.

Regional airline pilots are treated similar as well with minimal pay and long working hours.

Please if you live in south florida come support these guys,  if they succeed in their struggle it will set a precedence for other airlines that the pilots and public will not accept what is happening to the industry.

[salan]

I always found the thought of striking perplexingly odd.

on one hand we walk off of work to get more work
but if we don't walk off of work, we may have no work.

leave to get more
stay to get less.. wtf ?

[Two]

Typical pilot is quagmire, my dream job is to be a airline pilot :p

[Blitzen]

My dad is an air traffic controller at Pearson, so we talk about this kinda shit all the time.  The days of pilots making the big bucks is over.  Too much automation in the planes.  Best bet is to move into flying private jets, more monies there.  Or atc, at least in canada.  The FAA fucked up with their new tiered pay system.
Step 1. Move to canada
Step 2. ATC
Step 3. ?
Step 4. PROFIT.
I serriously love doing that...

[Sach]

screw the Unions, long live Thatcher.

[Tymathee]

sorry, i personally hate unions and think they've gotten away from what they were first formed for and have ruined a lot of things with their bias view on things. I understand if you feel a pilot doesn't get enough but you're also going 14 hrs a day doing something that you have to love doing. Also we're in the midst of a freakin recession!

You do realize that by doing this, you're going to get some of your comrades fired because if they do raise your pay, then they will have to fire some others because no one is flying as much anymore. Your priorities are all screwed up, sorry, can't support you, because your argument isn't based on any common sense.

[DasNoob]

You clearly didn't even watch the video tym.  fuck off tbh.

[Osprey]

screw the Unions, long live Thatcher.

Screw Thatch, long live the Unions...

[anthony210]

Sometimes the only way to get shit done is to strike.  Unions are good and bad but for the most part they try to make things as fair and decent as possible for the employees.  These pilots did not just decide one day they are going to strike.  Amerijet has been in negotiations for 5 years to make a contract that is acceptable to both the employees and the airline.  Not to mention pilots cannot just strike when they feel like it.  Look up a little law called the Railway Labor Act.  The NMB (National Mediation Board) released the Amerijet pilots to strike after the company left the table and refused to bargain in good faith.  They dont just allow everyone to do that.  The last time any airline in the US struck was Comair back in 2001.

The pilots are not asking for much.  Amerijet cut their pay by 10% back in June, they want that back, food and water on long trips, and atleast some form of a bathroom on the plane.  Not to mention they get 0 sick days there,  if you call in sick you lose 2 days of pay.

If you watch the video and still think the conditions are acceptable then I dont know whats wrong you...

I mean come on shitting in a bag...

For those of you that think aviation is largely automated...  Think again.  Sure the plane will hold cruise and navigate.  But MOST planes wont land themselves,  and even if they can pilots are only allowed to use the auto land when its required (when weather requires it to be used).  We spend years training to become pilots and spend a lot of money to do it,  we deserve a bit more than 20-30k a year and shitting in bags.

[anthony210]

Despite a five year attempt to secure a contract, the pilots and flight engineers of Amerijet International (Amerijet) have now gone on strike, according to the Airline Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The crewmembers of the Ft. Lauderdale-based all-cargo airline have been attempting to negotiate for a first contract since early in 2004. Over 5-1/2 years, they have faced management-based attempts to decertify the union, unilateral wage and benefit cuts and increased pressure to remove the legally elected union from the property.

Amerijet management’s refusal to bargain in good faith resulted in the appointment of a federal mediator by the National Mediation Board (NMB) two years ago. Amerijet’s continued bad faith bargaining led to the imposition of a 30-day cooling-off period by the NMB, the expiration of which allows either party to engage in self-help activities if an agreement is not reached.  The 30-day cooling off period expired Thursday morning at 12:01. 

“The NMB very rarely imposes cooling-off periods and mediation “releases” enabling labor unions to engage in self-help activities,” said Teamster spokeswoman Daisy Gonzalez. “The NMB’s decision to impose such a cooling-off period and release reflects Amerijet’s complete bad faith conduct throughout this 5-1/2 year ordeal. Over the last several days, the NMB, along with the union, continued to urge management to respond in good faith and come to an agreement. Late last night, Amerijet management broke off further negotiations and walked out of the NMB-sponsored contract talks.

“The key hang-up in the contract talks involved Amerijet’s insistence on a five-year contract without any raise in the last 20 months of the contract’s term.  The company also refused the union’s demand to restore severe wage and benefit cuts that the company imposed earlier this year, during a previous NMB-directed negotiating meeting in Washington, D.C.,” Gonzalez said. 

“In addition to operating the ‘Zero G’ aircraft that charges passengers $5,000 for a weightless flight experience, Amerijet pilots and flight engineers also fly Boeing 727 jets. They operate an air cargo link to many Caribbean islands and nations, carrying vital goods to individuals and companies who rely on this air bridge for critical air service in the region to and from the United States,” said Gonzalez.

 “Prior to suffering a unilateral 10 percent wage cut imposed in March 2009, the Amerijet pilots and flight engineers had been working at the same pay rate since 1999. It is a pay rate that is not only at or below the poverty level, it is almost identical to the pay of the regional pilots who were killed in the crash of Colgan Air 3407 in Buffalo this year.

“The average Amerijet first officer’s pay was $36,000 a year before the 10 percent cut earlier this year,” said Gonzalez. 

Gonzalez also said that Amerijet does not provide basic sanitary facilities on the airplanes and does not provide food and water to their pilots and flight engineers flying long, hot and exhausting duty days throughout the Caribbean and South America.

“Amerijet’s refusal to provide for even basic physiological needs and their insistence that even further pay penalties be imposed on the pilots and flight engineers if they call in sick for a flight is a testament to the mindset that has created the problems facing the airline industry and the need for change,” Gonzalez said.

Federal aviation regulations specifically prohibit crewmembers from flying while sick, a factor that has been cited as a potential contributing factor in the Buffalo crash that killed fifty seven people earlier this year.

The Teamsters proposed a four-year contract with a reinstatement of the arbitrary 10 percent wage cut imposed earlier this year by the company in its continued effort to force the crewmembers to dump the union. The Teamsters also imposed a $250 lump sum payment on signing of a contract and a 3 percent pay raise for the three following years. 

Amerijet’s final offer was a five-year demand with no raise in the final 20 months of the contract; along with the further imposition of a five-hour-per-day pay cut for any crewmember who called in sick for a trip.

“In the end, the losers here are not just the customers, but the countries of the Caribbean that count on critical and timely air cargo service as well,” said Gonzalez. “Time-critical shipments will be lost due to the refusal of an airline management that puts their personal gain ahead of their customers. We have received commitments from other air cargo carrier pilot groups and other transport-related unions to honor the Amerijet pilots’ and flight engineers’ picket lines.

“Businesses unrelated to Amerijet will also be affected as other union members in all likelihood will refuse to cross those lines to deliver other goods and packages. It is truly unfortunate that Amerijet is such a bad corporate neighbor to many South Florida companies,” she said. 

The Airline Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 769, represents the flight deck crewmembers employed by Amerijet International, a cargo airline that operates primarily to and from the Miami International Airport and the Caribbean Islands and South America. Teamsters Local 769 represents over 8,000 employees and families throughout South Florida.

[Malevolence]

Pilots have an awesome job, but 25k per annum is a pitiful salary even if you get many job benefits including but not limited to flying a freakin' airplane.

Good luck, I don't live anywhere near there, though.

[Illegal_Carrot]

sorry, i personally hate unions and think they've gotten away from what they were first formed for and have ruined a lot of things with their bias view on things. I understand if you feel a pilot doesn't get enough but you're also going 14 hrs a day doing something that you have to love doing. Also we're in the midst of a freakin recession!

It's only 'something you love doing' if you're treated human while you're doing it.
Did you seriously not watch the video?
-16-18 hours a day
-NO food or drink on these flights
-NO sick days (and a massive pay dock for not coming in)
-Extremely low pay
-Recent 10% pay decrease with no talk of raising wages again
-Shitting in a bag, for Christ's sake

[anthony210]

Trust me after a few months of the same repitition day in and day out for 14-18 hours a day.  Even flying becomes just a job.

When I first started I thought to myself all the time "Wow this is like not even a job, this is FUN!"...

While the flying part is indeed fun.  Sitting for 4-5 hours in a place like Port-au-Prince or Dominica is not fun.  In PAP the toilets are so rancid that I would not dare take a shit and we also do not have toilets on our planes.  If you eat the food you will get the shits bad,  if you can even stand to eat it.  I bring a lunchbox every day with a sandwich, a few bottles of water, and some fruit snacks.

Not to mention, when you do piss or shit in a bag.  There is no toilet paper, no place to wash your hands eather...  And then you go back to the controls that everyone has to touch.  Or the fact that you may be taking a dump right next to some freight that may have food in it...

[anthony210]

New AP news report just came out about the Amerijet strike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pdaus97pPc

I am going down to the picket line on Saturday to show support.

[Jodomar]

I don't want to seem like an a-hole here but couldn't you just quit and find another job? I know from my father who is a vp of a major corporation that unions promise the moon and the sun, but they often fail to deliever. In fact the tell blatant lies to the employees to try and get them to join. Why because you have to pay your dues even if you don't get what was promised. You have to ask yourself why would someone want to help? Well thats simple, because there is alot of money involved for THEM, not you. Also if everything does turn out all hunky dory what is to say that the company will have enough money to continue operating? You could potentially eliminate your postion, becuase the company went under. Look at the big three automakers, i know that there was other factors in their failure, but the unions played a large role. With that said it does suck if you truly work in those conditions, but to me I would have looked for another job a long time ago. There is so much more that I want to say, but I don't know how to put. I just wish you the best of luck on what ever path that you choose to take!

[BeRzErKeR]

Ohh man.. Oh man... I've been wanting to be a pilot since I was 5. But now after seeing that, I just don't know. Any advice if I should continue to persue a career as a pilot?

[gamesguy2]

I don't want to seem like an a-hole here but couldn't you just quit and find another job? I know from my father who is a vp of a major corporation that unions promise the moon and the sun, but they often fail to deliever. In fact the tell blatant lies to the employees to try and get them to join. Why because you have to pay your dues even if you don't get what was promised. You have to ask yourself why would someone want to help? Well thats simple, because there is alot of money involved for THEM, not you. Also if everything does turn out all hunky dory what is to say that the company will have enough money to continue operating? You could potentially eliminate your postion, becuase the company went under. Look at the big three automakers, i know that there was other factors in their failure, but the unions played a large role. With that said it does suck if you truly work in those conditions, but to me I would have looked for another job a long time ago. There is so much more that I want to say, but I don't know how to put. I just wish you the best of luck on what ever path that you choose to take!

Piloting is a highly competative and glamorous field.   If he quit is unlikely he could find a better job, especially in the current economy with the airline industry in the state that its in.

[GeneralGlacko]

Ohh man.. Oh man... I've been wanting to be a pilot since I was 5. But now after seeing that, I just don't know. Any advice if I should continue to persue a career as a pilot?

Lol it doesn't look good for me either, looks like i'm goin be a plane mechanic, or the AF reserve.

[CrazyWR]

do air traffic control, lots of people in that field are retiring, and need is high.  Pay is excellent as well.

Edit: At least according to what I heard when I last was attending Embry-Riddle a year ago.