Atlas Air Pilots finish seniority integration plan; put all contract issues on the table

Atlas Air pilots have provided all of the information the company claimed was holding up contract talks and today called on management to stop stalling, delaying and making excuses, and reach agreement at the bargaining table.

As contract talks resumed earlier this week between management and its pilots, Robert Kirchner, head of the International Aviation Professionals (IAP), Teamsters Local 2750, said “the company no longer has any excuse for failing to get a deal done.”

“We have produced a seniority integration plan that the company requested,” said Kirchner. “We have put all cost-related issues on the table. Yet they have continued to drag their feet.

“Enough is enough,” Kirchner said. “No more excuses. Let’s get a deal done now.

“Atlas has been in turmoil on a host of issues even though business is booming from rising COVID profits,” Kirchner noted. “One simple step to give shareholders long-term confidence is to finalize a contract with its pilots. It will increase pilot morale, which has been hit hard from working without a contract for so long, and by the disorganization of operations and multiple maintenance issues.

“Atlas Air continues to wage a battle with the people who fly planes, generate profits and make oversized executive compensation packages possible,” said Kirchner. “For close to five years, Atlas executives have squandered opportunities to reach a reasonable agreement through direct, good-faith negotiations. Now is the time to get a deal done.”

Since July, the pilots have been calling for a contract that benefits all parties. A win for the customers, a win for the shareholders, a win for the company and a win for the pilots—a 4W standard— should guide talks leading to a final agreement, the pilots have maintained.

The pilots estimate the company has lost approximately $1.4 billion fighting a “philosophical war” against them—money that Kirchner points out “could have covered the cost of a new contract twice over for the past four years and provided a better return for shareholders and customers.”

“Unfortunately, Atlas management continues to drag their feet and slow the already dragged-out talks. Plus, they have engaged in their preferred adversarial labor-management relations.”

A signed contract with the pilots, Kirchner said, would allow the company to grow, including maximizing the economic synergies associated with the long-overdue integration and merger of Southern Air.