Breeze Airways Pilots Picket At Rhode Island TF Green Airport

WARWICK, RI — Breeze Airways Pilots picketed at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport Thursday to call for a contract with the airline.

The pilots were picketing "to mark the airline’s fifth anniversary of operations — not with a celebration, but with a call for progress on a long-overdue first contract," the Air Line Pilots Association, International, union said in a media release.

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“Five years without industry-standard compensation, benefits, job security, and quality-of-life protections is unacceptable," Capt. Alex Kluge, chair of the Breeze ALPA Master Executive Council, said in the release.

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"There is no anniversary milestone for Breeze pilots to celebrate," Kluge said. "For us, it is a reminder that we have not had a contract since the airline was created, and there is no agreement in sight.”

The ALPA sued Breeze in federal court earlier this year, according to the release, "alleging bad-faith bargaining and saying negotiations have slowed to a crawl over the past three years due to management stalling."

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"The suit asks the court to demand that the airline bargain in good faith and cease its efforts to undermine the union," the release said.

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"Breeze pilots have been flying without a contract since the airline’s founding, one of only a handful of union-represented airlines that have gone this long without reaching an agreement with its pilots," according to the release.

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