Cargo Pilots Stand United

ALPA members representing many U.S. cargo carriers met this week to discuss industry economics and how they will affect future negotiations and strategies at the bargaining table. The session was part of a focused, industrywide campaign across all airlines whose pilots ALPA represents to recoup the enormous contract cuts that have occurred over the last several years—often with bankruptcy judges’ assistance.

The 2-day meeting was the latest installment of collective bargaining roundtables that ALPA has held this year. Attendees included crewmembers from Atlas Air, FedEx, Gemini, Kitty Hawk, and Polar Air Cargo, and members of the President’s Committee for Cargo.

Addressing the attendees on issues concerning contracts and negotiations, ALPA's president, Capt. John Prater, said, “I know how difficult it can be at the negotiating table in today’s environment. Our managements want us to sit up and beg for contracts, and we need to motivate them to change. We need to find a solution to protect our jobs and keep them for us. We need to learn from our past battles to pave the way for future successes.”

Cargo pilots attending the conference discussed a variety of bargaining issues ranging from self-help, updates on negotiations, and current economic outlook in the global air cargo industry, to struck work, scope, and patterns in the upcoming 5-year bargaining cycle.

Prater updated conference attendees on ALPA’s National Strike Committee, which will consolidate and share resources for pilots who need to prepare for the worst. Having served as strike coordinator in the 1983 Continental pilots’ strike, Prater said that when Frank Lorenzo launched a preemptive attack on the unions of Continental by declaring bankruptcy, the pilots were not prepared for a sudden strike, which they eventually lost.