U.S. Pilot Groups Urge Flexjet Pilots To Keep Union

Pilot groups across the U.S. sent letters urging the pilots at Flexjet and Flight Options—collectively known as OneSky—to vote against a “management supported” decertification effort of their union, IBT Local 1108. These groups included the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP), Air Line Pilots Association, Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, Allied Pilots Association, and Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations. The decertification vote begins for OneSky pilots on May 2 and ends May 30.

“Our Flight Options and Flexjet peers owe it to themselves to fully examine the information they receive regarding decertification to parse fact from fiction,” said NJASAP president Pedro Leroux. “Management has everything to gain, and our Flexjet and Flight Options peers have everything to lose, including job security, access to just-cause language in disciplinary matters, and the right to bargain for improvements.”

According to Leroux, pilot groups should preserve their unions because “predatory owners and managers exist, and pilots require an advocate to defend their interests.” He also warned that, if the decertification effort succeeds, “the consequences to our profession will be very damaging and far-reaching.”

Leroux pointed out that more than 90 percent of the commercial aviation workforce is unionized, as “a labor organization can negotiate and demand compliance with a collective bargaining agreement on wages, benefits, and working conditions…Approximately 95,600 professional flight deck crewmembers cannot be wrong.”