Polar Air Cargo Pilots Go on Strike

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olar Air Cargo crewmembers went on strike early Friday, the company and the union representing its workers said in separate statements.

olar’s parent company, Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, said its negotiations with the Air Line Pilots Association failed.

Polar’s offer to the ALPA called for no changes to current work rules, pay rules or benefits, and provided for a 10.5% across-the-board pay raise. ALPA was demanding significantly higher wage increases, which precluded reaching an agreement, the company said in its statement.

“Our goal was to put our Polar crewmembers at parity with our Atlas crewmembers pending merger of the two carriers,” said Jeffrey Erickson, Atlas’ chief executive officer.

The union, for its part, said that the contract negotiations, which have been ongoing since February 2003 and in mediation since June of that year, broke down over pay issues.

“[M]anagement has generally offered nothing more than numbers that were well below what our peers are paid,” said Captain Bobb Henderson, chairman of Polar’s crewmembers' master executive council, a unit of ALPA.