The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) represents more than 1.4 million active members employed in a wide range of industries in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The IBT negotiated the freight industry's first national agreement in 1964 and began its efforts to unionize the airline industry in 1966 with employees of Western Airlines.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is the only union that represents every craft of workers in the airline industry. The
Railway Labor Act requires that airline employees be organized on a system-wide basis for the purpose of collective bargaining.
Teamster representation of airline industry workers has grown steadily over the years. IBT contracts now cover 80,000 airline industry workers, including mechanics, customer service and ramp agents, stock clerks, dispatch personnel, flight attendants and pilots. In its nearly 42 years in the industry, the IBT has negotiated top quality contracts. The superior wages and benefits in IBT agreements make Teamsters airline jobs the most sought after in the industry.
Director Capt. David Bourne, Airline Division Director
In a statement on Thursday, the local Teamsters union said that “due to an aggressive campaign by management, the majority of Flexjet pilots were not convinced of the benefits of collective bargaining.” The union said that, despite its concerns with management’s alleged conduct, it would not ask the government to rerun the election. “Flexjet pilots, like their peers across the industry, will come to realize through their own experience that union representation is essential for maintaining professional independence, high safety standards, protection from the negative effects of mergers and acquisitions, and good pay, benefits and working conditions.”
