ATLAS AIR, CREWMEMBERS RELEASED FROM NEGOTIATIONS

ATLAS AIR, CREWMEMBERS RELEASED FROM NEGOTIATIONS       The National Mediation Board on Wednesday released Atlas Air and its crewmembers from mediated negotiations with respect to a first labor agreement covering the company’s pilots and flight engineers.
   The Board’s action followed the crewmembers’ decision to reject their offer of binding arbitration.
   Under the Railway Labor Act, if the NMB determines that if no further progress can be made through mediated negotiations, it is required to offer final and binding arbitration as a means of resolving all open issues.
   If either party declines, then a required 30-day cooling-off period begins. In that period, the parties may continue to meet and negotiate; often the NMB will bring the parties together for more discussions. At the end of that period, the union can strike.
   The 30-day period ends at 12:01 a.m. June 28.
   “The airline industry is full of examples of companies who agreed to contracts that they simply could not afford, companies whose very survival is now in question,” said William Allen, Atlas Air’s senior vice president of Human Resources. “We are not going to make that mistake.”
   Atlas Air Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc., and is a U.S.-certified air carrier. The company offers its customers a complete line of freighter services, specializing in Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance contracts.