Atlas Air prevails in pilot labor arbitration

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings has confirmed that its subsidiary, Atlas Air, has prevailed in an important arbitration between the Company and the union that represents its pilots, the Airline Professionals Association, Teamsters Local 1224.  The August 26, 2019 arbitration decision affirms that the merger provisions of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) apply in connection with Atlas Air’s acquisition of Southern Air, in April 2016.

It further affirms the Company’s long-standing position that the Union has been in violation of the existing CBA by refusing to follow the merger provisions for a new joint collective bargaining agreement (JCBA), and by failing to present an integrated pilot seniority list to the Company.  In a separate, but related, proceeding, the Union was also found to be in violation of the Southern Air CBA for refusing to follow the merger provisions for this JCBA on behalf of the Southern Air pilots.

The arbitrators in both cases ordered the Union to now proceed with contractually required negotiations for a new JCBA in connection with the merger.  The Union is required to submit an integrated seniority list of Atlas Air and Southern Air pilots to the company within 45 days, followed by a period of bargaining, after which any unresolved issues would be submitted to timely, interest-based arbitration.