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ATI pilots are taking a less adversarial tone in hopes of bringing Amazon to the negotiating table. “What we don’t want to do is impact our customers,” Sterling says. “We’ve done a lot to protect our obsession with Amazon.” However, he says the intransigence of ATSG management has left pilots no choice but to call a strike.
“This side of Amazon’s network is the most vulnerable to labor strikes,” says Marc Wulfraat, president of logistics consultancy MWPVL. If drivers or warehouse workers strike, the company can shift the flow of products and packages to one of its many nearby warehouses, but the airports are fewer and farther apart.
Amazon could offset a strike at ATI by shifting volume to other airlines under the Amazon Air umbrella, but only if they have the capacity to handle the flow at all airports. You could also transport some of your packages by truck, as you did during the brief strike in 2016. However, this could result in slower shipping times and reduced service, Wulfraat says, which goes against the obsession mantra. Amazon customer.
Pilots also have the advantage of generally being in a strong position in the airline industry. “It’s still a very, very attractive job market” for pilots, says Geoff Murray, a partner working in the aerospace sector at the management consultancy Oliver Wyman. Plummeting demand for passenger pilots during the pandemic caused many to retire early, worsening an existing pilot shortage that worsened as the industry recovered. Salaries have skyrocketed. Oliver Wyman estimates that pay for captains at major U.S. airlines, such as Delta and UPS, has increased 46 percent since 2020, while regional carriers have increased their pay by 86 percent.
Pilot Drew Patterson came to ATI in 2021, attracted by the work-life balance the airline offered, but as the airline lost pilots, he saw his workload increase and his schedule become more unpredictable. With fewer crews to operate the same number of flights, “everyone else’s schedule is compressed,” he says. “Sometimes you can be away from home for a long time.”
In the long term, he believes Amazon’s continued growth should be a good thing for ATI and its employees, so he has been willing to hold out. But he’s not so sure that all of his colleagues feel the same about current conditions at the company.
“There’s a real house of cards feel to this whole thing,” Sterling says. “We just can’t sustain what we’re doing.”
