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Pilots strike could hamper holiday deliveries from Amazon and DHL

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November 23, 2016 at 6:00 a.m. EST
In this  June 5, 2008, file photo, two ABX Air cargo planes sit at Wilmington Air Park, in Wilmington, Ohio. Pilots for ABX Air, a cargo airline that carries packages for Amazon and DHL, went on strike Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016, potentially causing delivery delays just as the holiday shopping season swings into high gear. (AP Photo/Al Behrman, File)

More than 250 pilots who work for Ohio-based cargo carrier ABX Air walked off the job Tuesday in a move that could impact retailers during the start of the busy holiday shipping season.

The pilots, who are members of the Airline Professionals Association, Teamsters Local 1224, are protesting staffing and pay levels. Union representatives said the pilots have been forced to take on numerous emergency assignments because the company is short-staffed and has refused to rehire pilots who were furloughed as a result of service cutbacks.

In a statement posted on the company’s website, the president of ABX Air, which is owned by Air Transport Service Group,  called the action an “illegal work stoppage” and said the company would seek a court order to force the pilots to return to their jobs.

“We expect the court will uphold our position that the actions taken by the union to refuse work assignments is not legal, and the issues involved constitute a minor dispute to be resolved via arbitration under terms of our current labor agreements,” ABX Air President John Sarkovich said.

He said the cargo carrier has notified its customers about the work stoppage.

According to union officials some of the company’s biggest customers include Amazon.com and DHL. They added that Tuesday’s walkout had caused the cancellation of at least 75 flights. ABX operates 35 daily flights for Amazon and 45 daily flights for DHL, union officials said.

Bea Garcia, a spokeswoman for DHL said the work stoppage affected inbound deliveries to portions of the Americas on Tuesday. She added that DHL is continuing to monitor the situation.

Officials at Amazon.com did not respond to requests for comment. (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos is the owner of The Washington Post.)

The pilots are picketing ABX Air’s headquarters in Wilmington, Ohio and DHL’s North American hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.