Pilots for Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air are going to be represented by a union based in Wilmington, Ohio, but they'll have to fly Southwest to Columbus or Delta to Cincinnati if they want to attend any meetings there.
Allegiant doesn't fly to any city in Ohio from Las Vegas.
The pilots voted 185-139 to be represented by the Airline Professionals Association Teamsters Local 1224 of Wilmington, Ohio, the National Mediation Board said Thursday. Negotiations on a collective bargaining agreement are expected to run through next year.
It was the first time Allegiant pilots voted to be in a union. They’ll join the airline’s flight attendants, who voted in December 2010 to be represented by the Transport Workers Union. The TWU and Allegiant still are working on their first contract.
“This election is a major victory for Allegiant Air pilots,” Capt. David Bourne, director of the Teamsters Airline Division, said in a statement. “The Teamsters Union stands ready to assist these pilots in securing their future with Allegiant Air.”
Pilots and union officials said discussions will center on work rules, scheduling, pension and health care benefits, and job security. Allegiant Chairman and CEO Maurice Gallagher said he doesn’t expect any disruptions while a contract is negotiated.
“Allegiant respects the right of the pilot group to elect third-party representation, and we will work with the IBT to the best interests of both our employees and the company,” Gallagher said in a statement.
Allegiant pilots fly twin-engine MD-80 and Boeing 757 jets on routes that connect small cities to resort destinations. Most recently, Allegiant announced expanded service to Hawaii.
Allegiant is the 10th airline group to be represented by Teamsters Local 1224, which also represents employees of ABX Air, Atlas Air, Cape Air, Horizon Airways, Kalitta Air, Miami Air, Omni Air International, Silver Airways and Southern Air.
When Allegiant's flight attendants approved TWU representation, they became the first group in the airline’s history to join a union. The vote came four years after flight attendants rejected representation by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.
A month after the flight attendants approved the TWU, the airline’s tiny dispatcher work group rejected representation from the union.