The Pilots Delivering Your Amazon Packages Are Ready to Strike

Pilots for US-based Air Transport International, a cargo airline that ferries Amazon packages from its fulfillment centers to airports nearer to its customers, voted to authorize a strike last month..

During the three and a half years the union has been negotiating with ATI, wages in the industry have soared, and ATIs pilots complain that their pay has fallen behind..

Amazon outsources the operation of its air service, which it calls Amazon Air, to a small network of cargo airlines whose pilots fly Amazon-branded planes..

During an earnings call in May, ATSGs former CEO said that ATIs service quality remained outstanding, but acknowledged that training replacements for departing pilots had raised costs for the airline.. When the pilots union negotiated a contract with the company in 2018, pilots pay, benefits, and schedules were competitive with similar airlines, says Josh Hoy, a captain who started at the airline seven years ago..

The last and only time Amazon faced a strike by one of its air carriers was in 2016, during the early days of its air cargo operation, when 250 pilots for ABX Air walked off the job..

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