Atlas Air Worldwide arbitration with union pilots delivers new labor agreement

After lengthy negotiations that entered arbitration early this year , Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings has completed a new joint collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with pilots at its Atlas Air and Southern Air subsidiary airlines. [caption id="attachment_87815" align="alignright" width="450"] Photo courtesy of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings[/caption] Leadership at the pilots’ union, the International Aviation Professionals (IAP), Teamsters Local 2750, expressed disappointment with the arbitration’s outcome, predicting that with the updated contract terms, “morale is low, attrition will accelerate, and Atlas won’t be able to deliver.” The new collective bargaining agreement is for a term of five years and is one of the final stages of completing the merger of Southern Air into Atlas, which acquired the carrier in 2016 . The contract includes a pay increase and “enhanced benefits,” according to a press release from Atlas on the agreement. Atlas said the pay increases will go into effect in October, with other contract terms to go into effect over the upcoming months “in collaboration with the union.” Union leadership is unhappy with the terms of the new agreement but will aim to push forward with securing the pay increases and other benefit enhancements quickly, Robert Kirchner, IAP trustee, told Air Cargo World . “We spent the last five years fighting arbitration because it’s skewed toward the company — we knew that going into it,” Kirchner said. Previous arbitration found in favor of Atlas in 2019 , in a decision that found the union Teamsters Local 1224, representing Atlas Air pilots, in violation of its existing CBA and required the union to follow through with submitting an integrated seniority list of Atlas Air and Southern Air pilots. “We always thought that a fairly negotiated settlement is not only best for the pilots but is best for the corporation,” Kirchner said. Union leadership has argued that pay and benefits for Atlas Air and Southern Air pilots are not competitive with other cargo-focused operators like UPS and FedEx, leading to high attrition for pilots at Atlas subsidiary carriers. “The input the union is getting is that people who were on the fence are now leaving,” Kirchner said. Atlas management is “losing [their] labor force — the most critical, most skilled employees. That’s the problem at hand. This victory for management, in the long run, is going to prove there’s no winner here.” Atlas did not respond to a request for comment, but seems to be among the passenger, cargo and combination carriers impacted by pilot shortages and turnover during and before the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on aviation. According to Kirchner, 338 pilots represented by the union have departed this year as of Sept. 13, and operations have not escaped the impact of the disputes between management and the union. In 2019, some Amazon Air aircraft were reassigned from Atlas Air to ATSG affiliate Air Transport International, with our sister publication Cargo Facts noting that the dispute with its pilot union may have led to the lost business . “We know a number of customers are not happy with the delays and problems occurring,” Kirchner said. “Some are due to maintenance, but the majority are from a tired, overworked and short crew force.”

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