ATI Jumpseat - Denied
For those who are unaware, since the ABX pilot strike in late November (2 day event), ATI has denied and restricted all ABX pilots from their jumpseats. This denial from a reciprocal jumpseat agreement has been implemented by the management team at ATI who has declared any ABX pilot to be a “safety and/or security concern”. The repudiation of access has not directly come from the rank and file crewmembers at ATI.
Although ATI management claims safety and security as their reason, when asked to articulate further about this alleged reasoning, they have been unable or unwilling to substantiate their claim. The entire process is an attack on the long-standing practice of the purpose for jumpseats and the authority of the pilot in command regarding the occupancy of these seats.
The ABX Exco has, since the end of the strike, encourage ABX pilots to allow ATI pilots continued access to jumpseats if they desired. This is regardless to the lack of reciprocation for the ABX pilots. Throughout the past months the ABX Exco has expressed [to ABX pilots] their desire to allow time for the ATI MEC to persuade their management to reaffirm their own PIC’s authority to handle any potential concern and to continue the industry practice of reciprocal jumpseats. To date there has been no change. The term reciprocal is self-explanatory and enough time has expired for the ATI MEC to resolve their management difficulties if they desired to do so.
Until such a time ATI reinstates the reciprocal part of their reciprocal agreement, I will no longer welcome the ATI pilot on-board the jumpseat and encourage other ABX’ers [and other pilots industry-wide] to do the same. ATI needs to be restored to an industry standard in this area, regardless of being a home-based airline, the benefit and use of the seat is for their members and others in the industry.