White Cap

Miami based Amerijet International has sued, once again, the IBT over the refusal of the International to recognize a Last/Best/Final Offer. This proposal was put forth even before the parties entered the mediation process. Enough "pilots" at AJT have asked the Division Director to take this offer, such that these pilots can get a pay bump until "they get on with a better airline". That being the case, the IBT is having a referendum on representation.
Many, many pilots have contributed their blood and sweat over the years to bring some sanity to the 36th Street operators. The three week strike in 2009 was the culmination of total disrespect for even basic human rights at that company, including giving no toilets, water, or catering for 16+ hour days. These people have drooled at the thought of getting rid of the IBT, and have never in ten years acted in any good faith. Most of the good people have moved on since 2009, what are left are Eastern scabs and people with violations. We took as many as possible at 5Y.
The actions taken by these companies and their sycophantic pilots have repercussions for all of us during our negotiations. It has been noticed by our union hiring board. These guys were hired knowing full well that the IBT was their bargaining agent. To undermine everything that previous pilots have worked for is morally indefensible, and these parasites should never be allowed to work at another union carrier.


Dear Crew Members:
Yesterday the International union’s lawyer in Washington complained that my email to you this week was an offer to bargain directly with crew members instead of the union that represents our crew members, and said I needed to retract that offer to bargain directly with you immediately.

As I have said, Amerijet is absolutely committed to following the labor laws, and so if my email this week gave the impression that I was attempting to bargain directly with crewmembers, that was not my intention at all and I retract any suggestion of that. To be clear, Amerijet recognizes the IBT as the representative of our employees, has been negotiating in good faith with the IBT, and remains ready and willing to do so in the mediation process in the future.

What I meant to say this week and what I continue to believe is that our crew members should have the opportunity to vote for or against Amerijet’s contract proposal. It is the chance to vote, and express your views to your union representatives, that seems only right to me, so that the union can know how Amerijet’s crew members want their union to act – whether that is to sign the contract proposal or to reject the contract proposal. That is why I encouraged you this week to continue to push the union leadership to arrange for a vote, and if the union leadership would not arrange for you to have a chance to vote you might consider holding your own vote.
On this Labor Day weekend, I want to thank you again for the dedicated and professional service you give to Amerijet. I want to repeat that Amerijet is committed to following the labor laws and to working with your democratically-elected union. I am hopeful that your union supports those same democratic principles and will arrange for you to vote on the contract proposal – again, for or against the contract proposal, it is your choice. But if the union leadership continues to refuse to arrange for a vote, I see no reason why our crew members can’t arrange for a vote themselves so that the union knows how our crew members want the union to act on Amerijet’s contract proposal.


Thanks
Dave

President and C.E.O.
Amerijet Holdings
954-320-5300


Additionally:


To our Amerijet crew members:
Back in August, I wrote to you that Amerijet is committed to reaching a new union contract, and told you we had put forward a complete contract proposal for our pilots that included significant compensation increases and other improvements. We expected the IBT would put that very promising contract out to our pilots for a vote.
As we all know, unfortunately the IBT refused to do that. When some of our pilots took the initiative and arranged for a vote among themselves on Amerijet’s contract proposal, the union also refused to accept that vote. Now — six months later — we hear the IBT may finally agree to allow our pilots to vote on Amerijet’s contract proposal. The catch is that the IBT has threatened that unless our pilots vote the way the union wants them to vote (instead of the way the pilots want to vote), the union will walk away from its responsibilities as the representative of Amerijet’s pilots.
Because of this IBT threat, I think it is important to say again now what I said last August: Amerijet stands behind its contract proposal and remains ready to sign it with the IBT -- or if the IBT is no longer our pilots’ representative, we are ready to sign that contract with any other union or group representing our crew members.
We will recognize and deal with the IBT so long as it is the representative of our crew members – that is the law, and we will absolutely follow the law. But if the IBT walks away from representing our pilots, I assure you that Amerijet is ready to work with any organization that our pilots choose as their representative -- including one “home grown” by Amerijet’s pilots. As you know, many other carriers, large and small, have unions that represent only that carrier’s employees and so are concerned only with what is best for those employees.
The IBT has suggested that Amerijet’s goal is not to have a contract at all, and says that is why the contract proposal lets Amerijet set up foreign bases that aren’t covered by the collective bargaining agreement. Ask yourselves: if the contract proposal (which is exactly the same as the initial contract on this that the IBT approved) really allows Amerijet to do what the union says, and Amerijet really doesn’t want to have to work with a union, shouldn’t Amerijet have assigned its crew members to foreign bases years ago? The truth is, we think having a union representing our crew members is a good thing. But we also think our crew members deserve a union that is looking out for their best interests, and not the union’s interests.
I say this to all our crew members, because Amerijet has now sent the IBT as a complete contract the proposal that we understand our flight engineers asked the union to propose to Amerijet. Amerijet also has informed the IBT that if the PFEs are asking the union to make that offer to Amerijet, we accept it, and all we need is for the union to sign it. In case the IBT decides it doesn’t want to represent our flight engineers, I want our flight engineers to know that Amerijet is prepared to sign the final contract proposal for the PFEs also, and deal in good faith with whatever group or union our flight engineers might choose to represent them.
Finally, I want to thank your union negotiating committee for getting all of us – union and company – to the point that we have good, complete, and carefully negotiated contracts for both our pilots and flight engineers that are ready for a signature by the union and Amerijet. It took commitment, and study, and lots of hard work to put these contract proposals together. The union negotiating committee sacrificed their own time for these negotiations, and those proposals are so much better for their efforts. I personally thank them and appreciate their contributions, and if you have a chance to thank them too, I hope you will do that.
David Bassett


Thanks
Dave

President and C.E.O.
Amerijet Holdings
954-320-5300

White Cap

Further information:

AJT loses case in Supreme Court. They asserted that their pilot CBA is not valid outside of the US.

Justices Decline Amerijet Case on Worker Disputes Outside U.S. | Bloomberg BNA

AJT sues Miami-Dade county over airport minimum wage law.

Court finds Airline Deregulation Act does not preempt Miami-Dade County's Living Wage Ordinance - Lexology.

frozenboxhauler

Little "Davey B" has always been a pompous p*@#^!
fbh

sqwkvfr

That ridiculous "last, best and final offer" clause in the IBT constitution is completely incompatible with any labor group that falls under the umbrella of the RLA.

It is the precise reason that I believe that the IBT should not represent pilots.

White Cap

What exactly are you talking about? This concerns a matter where a group of people are asking that the IBT step aside after years of wasting money on this group. LBFO are company threats. If you mean the the International can override an agreement at the Local level, then I disagree. The International has to keep the interest of all its Locals at heart. If one goes off the reservation, then they have to be brought back. That is a philosophical argument for another thread. But this is not the case in the argument posted. It simply a decision by the pilots to decide if they want to be represented. Skylease pulled similar nonsense a few years back with predictable results.

wallyp34

Mike, I agree that it is pathetic Dave is still fighting this fight. He is going to die knowing he disrespected most of his employee's. A scumbag like him will never, ever change his ways. He makes a ton of money off the backs of his subservient workforce. Rich, I'm talking to you. Heard you on the radio a couple weeks ago. The future of Dave's 767's are in question due to ATSG and Mr. Bezos wanting more lift. Maybe he go bye-bye. Maybe not. A cockroach like DB will never go away. I can only hope the hard working folk at AJT will recognize and appreciate their sacrifices and demand a contract commensurate with what they do every day. Do not give up the IBT. You have no chance without them.

White Cap

Thanks for the support. Dave and his ilk have always been able to take advantage of desperate pilots. Eastern was a boon to him. I gave up long ago thinking that the South Florida FSDO would intervene, and force change over there. In his illegal letters to the pilot group, Dave says that he will bargain with any other union. He already knows that ALPA won't touch this group and that the IBT can be just as ruthless as himself. They humiliated him in 2009. If this passes, it will be termination time for the union pilots at AJT. Dave did it before, and he will do it again. 5Y is interviewing 200 pilots this month, and the union knows the background of every 36th street guy trying to get on. Good luck fellas.

White Cap

Amerijet pilots voted to keep the IBT at the bargaining table, turning down the illegal management offer for more money in exchange for foregoing union representation. Of course there was blowback from the numerous scabs that calls themselves captains down on 36th Street:

[Dear Fellow AJT Pilots],

I believe nobody needs a degree to understand that a forced relationship does not work and never ends well. It’s like when somebody is forced into a bad marriage. The relationship will never be good and will eventually collapse sometimes in a disastrous way.
I compare the relationship between Amerijet and the teamsters to a bad marriage, a forced marriage, a forced relationship. For those of you who do not know, the teamsters became the pilot’s representatives in a forced way through a strike. The company never wanted them in the property in the first place. Due to the enormous economic pressures created during the strike orchestrated by the teamsters, still without being the official union representatives for the pilots and all those pilots who decided to dance to their music, in which I am proud to say I was one of the pilots who chose not to participate, the company had two choices. Take the teamsters or cease operations. It’s like in some places of the world women are threatened to be killed if they do not marry certain individual against their wish. It’s a survival decision and this forced relationship is not much different. Proof that is does not work and probably never will is 6 years of fruitless negotiations, something very unlikely to change. The salary has not changed since they the teamsters came into the game and I would love to be proven wrong on this and see the union to achieve and not by force something good for all the pilots but I have my serious doubts. In the meantime they have taken thousands of dollars from pilot’s paychecks in exchange for filing grievances and make demands the company like an unhappy partner is not willing to agree to. Because they do not like to be forced like a person in a forced marriage. They have been trying to get a divorce from the union and marry a more likable partner like an in house union they may like much better and have a smoother relationship with and surely much better outcomes.
Unfortunately, most of you don’t get it and insist in supporting a bad marriage, a forced marriage, a forced relationship. Forced relationships never end well. Remember it.
I am proud to say I do not support bad marriages or forced relationships.
For the happiness of many and although I don’t make any promises I plan to stop my efforts. If this forced relationship is what the majority wants, so be it and best of luck with it. I will continue to do my job which is flying the line and make my best effort to cease and desist on any further attempts to make anybody understand the negative reality of this forced relationship.
If at some point any of my actions or remarks offended anybody, I apologize but despite what many of you may believe or have been made believe, my intentions were always honorable and in the best interest of everybody. And I did not expect a penny from anybody nor was I paid a penny by the Company for my efforts. I did not come here to win a popularity contest. You may think whatever you want about me. I have a clear conscience.
Capt. XXX XXX XXX will stick with Amerijet because it was Amerijet who hired me, not the union, it is Amerijet the one who gives me money while the union wants to collect money from me, It is Amerijet who wants to give me more money and their forced partner do not let them, and all of you got to the union through Amerijet. Without Amerijet there is no job and no access to the union.
In the example above, is the woman threatened with loss of life and forced into a marriage the bad person? Hard for me to accept that the party forced into a bad relationship is the bad guy.

Best to all.


The above rant was written by a semi-literate scab. He is a true hero to all the scabs that follow him. Good luck to everyone trying to make a difference at this awful place.

wallyp34

+1 White Cap. The person who wrote that barely literate piece deserves the substandard pay and qol they get working for Ed and the crew. 30%, take it or leave it. That pathetic offer from Dave would still leave the pilots well short of what they deserve. I wonder how ND and RM sleep at night knowing what poison they spread throughout the group. What a disgrace they are to the profession and to themselves.

Braniff DC8

Are they still flying the 727's? Ad out today for PFEs. Though it odd as I thought AJ was down to 1 727.