nospin

Guys,

This is a very rough draft, but I would really appreciate feedback. I am definitely in the cup half-full mode, but after talking with several of our Values Committee brethren, they are asking us to really speak our minds this year to give them support in getting things done. Please pardon the length, but I wanted to put a lot down to get more feedback.

Pay

Pay is getting further and further out of line from where it should be. We do not need a large pay increase for the 320, but we need to stop losing pay due to benefits changes and cost of living increases. We are taking pay cuts due to increased benefits costs, especially with the increase in medical insurance costs. We are losing buying power due to cost of living increases that are not being matched in any way. The leadership at jetBlue is telling us that this is a high priority (re: letter from Pete Russo “49ResponseToPilots.doc”) but absolutely nothing is actually being done.

1. Pay is still way too low for FO’s beyond 2 years. It is completely out of line per industry standards and is also even more unreasonable given the fact that upgrades are taking longer and longer. Previously, we were told that it didn’t matter since we upgraded so quickly and since upgrades happened in less than 2 years, which held some validity. That is no longer is true. We now have professional pilots with families to support that are having financial difficulty as their spending power decreases without a cost of living pay increase while the amount of selling by insider traders continues to increase so that executives at jetBlue (other than David Neeleman) have increased their pay dramatically. It is especially difficult to listen to Al Spain talk to us about how he “has plenty of applications on file if we don’t want to work here” during annual training when he is the highest paid employee at jetBlue according to the annual report.

2. The 190 pay scale, especially for FO’s is unreasonable and insulting. The IFC’s will be making more than the FO’s. If it is not an RJ, than don’t pay RJ wages. Is it reasonable that Al Spain spends twice a 190 FO’s annual wages in his expense account this last year? I don’t think so.

3. Stop comparing our wages to other companies using a blended pay scale and assuming 85 hours per month. Go back and look at the average hours per month that is actually paid per pilot and it will show a lower number of hours credited to the line pilot that is closer to 81 hours per month. Those numbers also don’t reflect those which have training or vacation time which hurts the take home pay for that month. Twice a year we have training that prevents flying as much and if we take vacation time twice a year that makes it four months a year that we are unable to average 85 hours of pay. We have to take a pay cut to take vacation time at jetBlue and that is unfair and this is the only company I am aware of in the country that has a policy that results in that impact on its people.

4. Increase the 401k matching amount to come more in line with what SWA or other airlines without a pension plan offer.

5. Stop giving out small trinkets such as snow globes and cheap jackets to us unless it is being paid for out of the personal funds of Al Spain. I would much rather the company spend the money on things that will help us better deal with IROPs or improve our health benefits. That would be much more motivational for us to continue going the extra mile for jetBlue.

Healthcare

1. Our company provided health care plan is not acceptable. As an individual, I can negotiate cheaper and better coverage. We were told in initial training that the benefits would improve and the cost would decrease as we grew from being a small company and the exact opposite has occurred.

2. jetBlue needs to publish the data on how many pilots have opted out from using jetBlue medical coverage and the reason why. I would wager that anyone that has another means of getting coverage, whether through a spouse that is working or through military benefits has done so. They are not being reimbursed by jetBlue for not using jetBlue insurance which is saving the company even more money. jetBlue should have an “Opt Out” option for those choosing to use other medical coverage and allowing them to use the money that jetBlue would have had to spend on their health care coverage if they had chosen jetBlue’s coverage to pay for their personal medical coverage.

3. One year ago, during a pocket session about the pilot contract, Vinnie Stabile promised that he would send out a white paper detailing our coverage under short and long term disability coverage. One of the specific question related to if we were covered if the disability prevent us from acting as a pilot, but did not make us disabled in the eyes of the Social Security Administration. Although this has been asked about several times since then, nothing has been forthcoming.

Parking

1. A lot of people have expressed their concern about our current parking lot and although it is said that it is a “top concern” in pocket sessions, nothing has changed to make the problems better. It is unreasonable to expect people to show up in the parking lot one hour prior to ensure that that make their show time. It is not safe to have us park in an area with multiple holes in the fencing, where a shuttle bus just sits there and will not shuttle employees across a street with traffic traveling at high speeds, and there are inadequate guards that do not actually roam the parking lot.

2. The persistent rumors of moving the parking to Aqueduct Race Track and then to ride a bus to the Airtrain appear to be coming true. When George Sauer was recently riding in the jumpseat on a flight and he was asked specifically about the issue he said that it is out of the company’s hands and up to the Port Authority. That is an unacceptable answer. We have to care more about our people than that. I would suggest that we hire our own shuttle bus drivers, but then we would most probably be paying them more than the 190 FO’s would be paid.

Communication

1. jetBlue is more and more becoming a company that runs on rumor and innuendo versus facts and open, honest communication. There are numerous examples, but I will only use a couple to illustrate the point. We had a plane land at McGuire AFB due to low fuel. Nothing has ever been put out by anyone officially at jetBlue to address the incident so that it can be avoided in the future. Another was when an aircraft shut down an engine on takeoff out of Oakland and then air aborted back into OAK. Nothing has been put out to address what happened and if there were any lessons learned from the incident.

2. I have heard through numerous rumors of a Captain that locked his FO out of the cockpit to have sexual relations with an IFC. If that is true, they both should have been fired, not just the Captain. There is also the rumor of a pilot showing up 10 minutes prior to official show time and being notified of the requirement of a drug test. He supposedly left and then called in sick. If this is true, why is this person still working at jetBlue? The list goes on. I completely understand that it is difficult to discuss when someone is terminated, but if it is not done, the damage done to the company through the rumors is horrible and could be overcome through taking the time to sanitize the personal information and then give at least some information out so people know that if they violate company values, they will be terminated.

3. We are now hearing through emails from our values committee that they have had discussions with senior leadership at jetBlue about “our” concerns. Nothing has divulged what “our” concerns were. No one was able to ask me what my concerns were because the Values Committee is not allowed to communicate with all of us privately. Not one thing has been said about the answers to “our” concerns. Instead, we as line pilots have to hear what is happening through rumor and innuendo. We need to have a separate website that allows the Values Committee to have unfettered and anonymous communication with all of the pilots at jetBlue.

4. This is my third survey to be filled out. The last two years survey results have not been released in their entirety and they certainly have not been adequately addressed. Each year, we have been promised that “this year we will provide feedback during the year on how we are addressing concerns from the survey.” The reality is that we have just received a document from the chief pilot as we are starting to fill out this year’s survey. That document is replete with statements such as “this issue is a high priority and we will be conducting ongoing research and an education program.” That is not a valid reply one to two years after the issue has been raised. The raw data, which should already be sterilized of identifying information, should be released to the pilot group in its entirety. Monthly, or at a minimum, quarterly updates should be provided to the pilot group where an issue is updated or closed out, or better yet, solved.