Airline Pilot Central Forums - Polar contract negotiations

Union gives boost to Polar Air Cargo crew
By THE JOURNAL NEWS
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original Publication: June 1, 2005)

Crewmembers at Polar Air Cargo, who are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association International, may receive up to $2 million from the union if their talks for a new contract with Harrison-based Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc. fail and they go on strike.

The infusion from the union's Major Contingency Fund can be used for newsletters and other information to publicize the strike, said Ron Lovas, an ALPA spokesman.

The crewmembers hope, however, that a strike will not be necessary, and that a fair agreement can be reached, said Capt. Bobb Henderson, chairman of ALPA's Polar Cargo unit, which has about 300 members. The Polar crewmembers began contract negotiations in February 2003.

Sticking points in the negotiations are compensation and retirement, according to ALPA. Lovas said there is no deadline for reaching an agreement.

"Polar Air Cargo crewmembers' compensation is significantly less than all of our peers in the wide-body cargo industry and we have only a self-funded 401(k) plan to provide for our retirement," Henderson said in a written statement. "Additionally, our work schedules are exhausting. Having the financial support and solidarity of 64,000 ALPA members behind us will be crucial to our efforts as we continue to negotiate a fair contract that corrects these woeful deficiences."

Polar signed a four-year contract with management in 1999, which has since been extended a year twice, Lovas said. It provides scheduled air freight and charter services through its fleet of Boeing 747 freighter aircraft. Polar and its sister company, Atlas Air Inc., are subsidiaries of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings.

Mount Vernon-based Michael Anthony Jewelers Inc., which designs, markets and manufactures jewelry and watches, announced yesterday that it is in preliminary talks to possibly combine its business with Bel-Oro International Inc. of New York City. Bel-Oro operates the Bel-Oro, Pace and Sardelli group of companies, which import and distribute jewelry including gold, silver and precious stones.

Farshid Mohammadi, general manager for the North American and international switching business unit at UTStarcom, has joined the advisory board to support White Plains-based eLEC Communications Corp.'s VoX Communications subsidiary. VoX is in Celebration, Fla. VoX deploys wholesale, residential and business voice-over Internet protocol services nationwide. eLEC is a local telecommunications company that offers business and residential customers with local, long-distance, dedicated access and voice over Internet services.