Vol. 73/No. 40      October 19, 2009

“For me, a major part of the contract, in addition to wages and benefits, was finally succeeding in having a revised sick leave policy and the addition of on-board toilet facilities,” said Kamal Patel, a pilot at Amerijet in Miami, reported the Teamsters Web site. “When we struck Amerijet a couple of weeks ago they were going to make us continue working in the unsanitary conditions we’ve been suffering in. But now, with the new contract, the addition of toilet facilities is a written part of the agreement.”

The pilots said they went on strike because they are forced to fly long shifts on very little sleep and penalized for taking sick days, reported AP.

Because there were no toilet facilities on the cargo planes, they were also forced to use special bags if they had to go to the bathroom during a flight. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen told CNN that lavatories, or the lack thereof, are not a concern for regulators and is not an aviation safety issue. “There is absolutely no requirement for any aircraft to have a lavatory,” she said.

Amerijet pilots received support from pilot unions at other airlines.

The union said Teamster-represented maintenance workers and cleaners at Miami International Airport refused to cross the picket lines. Other unions in South Florida, the Caribbean, and South America supported the strikers, including the United Petroleum Workers.

Teamsters Local 769 in Miami represents 58 flight deck crew members employed by Amerijet, which operates primarily to and from Miami International Airport and the Caribbean islands and Latin America.
 
 
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