October 30, 2019
Negotiations Update for Crewmembers from Bill Flynn
Dear Atlas Air and Southern Air Crewmembers,
I am writing to update you on the status of negotiations for our new Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA). Finalizing the JCBA remains the top priority for the company as we want to provide you with a competitive contract.
First of all, we welcome Local 2750 to Atlas. We have already engaged with Local 2750 leadership and we look forward to working with this new Local along with Local 1224, the union representing Southern pilots, towards a new JCBA.
As most of you know by now, the arbitrators in both the Atlas and Southern management grievances each issued final, binding decisions concluding that the merger provisions within the current CBAs apply and that the union was required to provide the Company with the Integrated Seniority List (ISL) within 45 days of their respective awards.
The tendering of the ISL triggers a period for bargaining after which unresolved issues, if any, would be submitted promptly to binding arbitration. For Southern, that deadline was July 27, 2019, and for Atlas the deadline passed on October 10, 2019. Regrettably, the union failed to comply with either arbitrator’s decision with respect to tendering the ISL. The union did file lawsuits to vacate the arbitration awards.
As the provision of the ISL is essential for us to move forward and reach a new JCBA, the company was compelled to file a lawsuit ordering the union to produce the ISL. In the filing, and as part of our ongoing effort to get to a JCBA as soon as possible, the company asks the Court to compel the unions to submit the ISL immediately and enforce the bargaining period for negotiation of a JCBA.
In summary, the union has filed lawsuits to vacate the arbitration awards and the Company has filed actions to enforce the awards.
Notwithstanding these legal proceedings, we remain committed to proceeding with negotiations. In fact, the parties met again last week in Washington, D.C. One of the challenges of making further progress, however, is that the remaining open sections have significant economic consequences. We have therefore asked the union on numerous occasions to provide a comprehensive economic proposal so the Company can evaluate the remaining articles of the CBA to be negotiated. Regrettably, the union continues to refuse to provide the economic proposal, focusing instead on Scope discussions which typically are more appropriately addressed at the end of negotiations. This is further delaying our progress to a new JCBA.
We encourage you to stay informed of developments as they occur. You can find more information on the negotiations process at AtlasAir5Ypilots.com and by following @AtlasAir5Y on Twitter.
Sincerely,
Bill Flynn
Chief Executive Officer