Flexjet Pilots Oust Teamsters in Huge Defeat for American Unions

Pilots at Flexjet LLC voted to end representation by the Teamsters union, a significant blow to organized labor in one of its few remaining strongholds and a coup for the jet-leasing company, which steered a heated campaign to sway workers.

Pilots voted by a margin of 318 to 220 to decertify the Teamsters in electronic voting over the past month, according to results verified by a representative of the National Mediation Board on Wednesday. The pilots had voted narrowly to join the union in 2016, but since then the group has been unable to secure a contract deal with the Cleveland-based company. The union blamed a cynical campaign and delay strategy by deeply anti-union Flexjet officials for the reversal in employee sentiment.