Amerijet Pilots Approve First Teamsters Contract

Striking Crewmembers Reach Agreement on Wages, Conditions

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Sept. 15 - Flight crew members for Amerijet International, a cargo airline, today approved a first contract with the company. This is the pilots' first collective bargaining agreement after five years of negotiations and a strike that began Aug. 27.

The pilots and flight engineers voted 35 to 3 for the contract. The pilots fly Amerijet's five Boeing 727s and two leased Boeing 767s (early 2010) to and from Miami International Airport, the Caribbean Islands and South America.

"We had tremendous industry support for our Amerijet pilots," said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. "This contract is a major step forward for the pilots, who first voted for Teamster representation more than five years ago. Now they can look forward to the protections and better wages and working conditions that only a Teamster contract can provide."

The pilots went on strike at the end of a 30-day cooling off period imposed by a federal mediator. The National Mediation Board called both the pilots and the company back to the table on Tuesday, September 8.

Amerijet pilots received support during the strike from Teamster pilots at Atlas Air, Polar Air Cargo and Kalitta, and members of the Teamsters Building and Construction Trades Department. Wide spread industry support came from pilot unions of APA (American Airlines), USAPA (US Air), SWAPA (Southwest Airlines), JetBlue, IPA (UPS Pilots), CAPA (Coalition of Airline Pilots Association), PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization), NATCA (National Air Traffic Controllers Association) and ALPA (Air Line Pilots Association). Teamster-represented maintenance workers and cleaners at Miami International Airport refused to cross the picket lines. Other unions in South Florida, the Caribbean and South America supported the strikers including the United Petroleum Workers.

"For me, a major part of the contract, in addition to wages and benefits, was finally succeeding in having a revised sick leave policy and the addition of on-board toilet facilities," said Capt. Kamal Patel, a pilot at Amerijet in Miami. "When we struck Amerijet a couple of weeks ago they going to make us continue working in the unsanitary conditions we've been suffering in. But, now, with the new contract, the addition of toilet facilities is a written part of the agreement. My family can rest easier now that they know that job is protected by a Teamster contract."

"Our negotiating committee held the unit together throughout the five years we spent negotiating and through the tense two weeks we just had on the strike line," said Teamsters Airline Division Director Capt. David Bourne. "I know that the support we received from Teamster pilots, truck drivers, maintenance workers and cleaners added a big push toward agreement on favorable terms. So did help from pilots unions throughout the airline industry."

Teamsters Local 769 in Miami, part of the Teamsters Airline Division, represents 58 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.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was founded in 1903 and represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.


CONTACT: David White of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
+1-202-624-6911, dwhite@teamster.org