Amazon Delivery Pilots Ordered to End Strike

Pilots for the Air Transport Services unit that hauls packages for Amazon and DHL were ordered back to work by a federal judge, halting a strike that threatened to disrupt holiday deliveries, according to Bloomberg. U.S. District Judge Timothy Black in Cincinnati gave a nod to the holiday shopping rush in granting ABX Air’s request for a temporary restraining order for pilots to return to the cockpit.

“The public expects that purchases and shipments will be delivered in a timely fashion,“ Black said in Wednesday’s ruling. “Absent an injunction, ABX, its customers and the public will suffer immediate, irreparable harm. Imagine Christmas without Amazon!“ The strike began Tuesday morning and forced the cancellation of dozens of flights. Julie Ford, a lawyer for the pilots union, said the union has withdrawn picket lines to comply with the order, which is effective for five days under federal law.

“The union is obviously disappointed,“ Ford said in a phone interview. The pilots will make a decision on how to proceed next week, she said. The ruling clears a major obstacle for Amazon heading into its first holiday shopping season since contracting with ATSG and another carrier to operate a fleet of cargo planes to shuttle inventory around the country. Those contracts reduced the company’s reliance on FedEx and UPS. The pilots are returning to work in time for the online shopping peak between Thanksgiving and the following Monday. Online spending in the U.S. on Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday is expected to reach $8.4 billion, or 9.2 percent of all online spending in November and December, according to Adobe.