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ABX Air pilots ratify new labor agreement

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Staff Report 11:09 AM Thursday, November 19, 2009

WILMINGTON — ABX Air pilots have approved an amended labor contract with the company that will allow members of the union, Airline Professionals Association Teamsters Local 1224, to receive severance benefits provided by express shipper DHL.

DHL, ABX’s biggest customer, slashed its U.S. operations in 2008 and this year, forcing ABX Air and other companies to lay off thousands of employees at the DHL-owned Wilmington Air Park, the region’s largest employer.

ABX Air said the new labor agreement provides for wages, benefits and work rules that are more in line with market competitors than under the current agreement. Neither the company nor the union released any details. It amends a contract that was last updated in 2003.

ABX Air flight crew members ratified the new contract in voting that ended Tuesday, Nov. 17. The union declined to release the vote totals. It represents about 600 members, two-thirds of whom have been furloughed from their jobs.

The new contract is contingent upon the signing of a new commercial agreement that would provide for DHL’s continued use of ABX Air aircraft and flight crews in its U.S. express network. ABX Air said it is discussing such an agreement with DHL to replace a seven-year that extends to Aug. 15, 2010.

The labor agreement with ABX Air’s pilots will help the company in its efforts to win a new contract with DHL, said John Graber, president of ABX Air.

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