Amerijet pilots agree on labor deal, end strike

Amerijet pilots agree on labor deal, end strike    Pilots ended a bitter 18-day strike at Miami-based Amerijet International after the cargo airline reached agreement with union officials on a new four-year contract Monday.
   Flight crews organized a union five years ago and began pressing the company for their first collective bargaining agreement before initiating a work stoppage on Aug. 27 when it said Amerijet officials broke off talks.
   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 the pilots and the company back to the bargaining table on Sept. 8.
   Pilots and engineers voted 35-3 for the contract, according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. One of their big complaints was that they were forced to work in unsanitary conditions because its Boeing 727-200s lacked toilet facilities. Crewmembers also complained about long work hours, poor maintenance of aircraft and being penalized for taking sick days.
   In late August, the Business Travel Coalition asked Congress and the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate work conditions at Amerijet.
   The new contract includes improved salaries, benefits and a guarantee that toilet facilities would be installed in cargo jets.
   The Teamsters said talks broke down earlier this year when Amerijet insisted on a five-year contract with no raises in the final 20 months of the deal and refused to restore 10 percent wage cuts and benefit reductions initiated in March. The union said employees had worked at the same wage rate since 1999, and that before the wage cut the average first officer's annual pay was $36,000.
   Amerijet has a fleet of eight Boeing 727-200 narrow-body jets and has a new agreement to lease several 767s. The company continued to operate its routes to the Caribbean, Mexico and Central and South America using managers and outside contractors.