Originally Posted by
Industry Strnd
I wonder if Amazon and DHL know that a 2nd yr fo at FedEx and UPS has a bigger w2 and more time off, than a senior captain at ATI (even with a ta) and ABX.
They do, and they pride themselves accordingly.
If they think they can man 100 planes paying the lowest wages in the industry, I can't wait to see that. Between Atlas, ABX and ATI only about 50% of the new hires stay longer than a year!
That is immaterial to them. If they need to hire 2 to keep 1, so it will be. The cost of training the ones who leave will be made back on the wages of the ones who stay.
There's no reason you shouldn't be paid at rates commensurate with those at UPS and FedEx. The product is the same, as is the service you perform in providing it. Your problem isn't so much with ATI and ABX (or K4 or Southern) per se, but with the unholy alliance between your government and those it is charged with overseeing, and that permits unbridled and unregulated "permatemping" of jobs. The best, industry-leading contract you could possibly secure is built upon the shifting sands of corporate greed. It comes with a best-if-used-by date that coincides with the last day of your contracted service to DHL or Amazon, and even that can be terminated on relatively short notice. It all leads to a situation not unlike that which beguiled Sisyphus, tasked for eternity with rolling a boulder up a hill only to watch it roll back down. And for those in the ACMI business, that "rolling back down the hill" -thing is going to happen on about a 3 to 5 year cycle. For EVER.
Any improvement to your working conditions you can effect by bringing pressure upon your union or management is going to be temporary at best. The real fight for change is going to be in Washington, D.C. starting in November and carrying on until your goals are achieved.