Pilots Strike at Cargo Carrier Serving DHL, Amazon.com
ABX Air is seeking a court order to force pilots back to work
Amazon.com employees organized outbound packages at a Phoenix center on “Cyber Monday” in 2013. About 250 pilots for ABX Air, a cargo carrier that serves Amazon.com, went on strike Tuesday. PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
A union representing pilots for a cargo carrier that serves Deutsche Post AG’s DHL andAmazon.com Inc. went on strike Tuesday, just days before the peak holiday shopping season.
The pilots are picketing ABX Air, a subsidiary of Air Transport Services Group Inc., and aren’t flying scheduled routes, the union said Tuesday. ATSG has 58 freighter aircraft in its fleet, including 50 widebody Boeing 767 planes.
Pilots aren’t crossing the picket lines, which means planes are unable to leave an Amazon hub in Wilmington, Ohio, and a DHL hub in Cincinnati, said a person familiar with the matter.
DHL said some “inbound deliveries to portions of the Americas will be delayed today” due to the work stoppage. Amazon said it works with a variety of carriers and is “confident in our ability to serve customers.”Amazon will see a limited impact, since it has only a few flights operating at this point and not all of them will be going through Ohio, the person said. Still, the action will throw off both DHL and Amazon’s networks as they head into the all-important holiday season.
Air Transport Services Group said it is trying to end what it calls an illegal work stoppage. ABX Air President John Starkovich said the airline is seeking a court order to force the pilots back to work.
“We expect the court will uphold our position that the actions taken by the union to refuse work assignments” aren’t legal, Mr. Starkovich said.
Airlines and railroads fall under the U.S. Railway Labor Act, which makes it more difficult to strike. Under that law, contracts don’t expire, and federal mediation is mandated if the two sides can’t come to an agreement. The mediators also can call for a recess in negotiations if the two sides reach a stalemate.
ABX Air pilots say they operate 45 flights a day for DHL and an unspecified number for Amazon as they ship millions of online orders during the holiday season.
“We are going to do our best to correct that situation with as small an impact as possible,” said ATSG spokesman Paul Cunningham.
The company’s ABX subsidiary operates 13 of the 767 aircraft entirely for DHL under long-term leases, he said. The airline is phasing in contract operations for Amazon that eventually will include 20 aircraft, but the spokesman didn’t have up-to-date information on how many planes ABX has in service for the e-commerce retailer.
The pilot union says ABX Air has been “significantly understaffed” recently, forcing pilots to work “emergency assignments” on their off time, a violation of the union contract. They are represented by the Airline Professionals Association, Teamsters Local 1224
ATSG Chief Executive Joseph Hete said earlier this month that problems finding pilots had contributed to a steep year-over-year profit decline in the period.
“Our third quarter results were adversely impacted by premium pay to ABX Air pilots, despite an aggressive crew member recruiting program and rigorous training schedule,” Mr. Hete said in a Nov. 3 earnings release.
