Originally Posted by 2 BLUE
I don't think my seniority should play into this.
We all OWN a part of this company with options and C.S.P.P. ! That is a fact. We are not goingn to make our money on salary....just look at the legacy boys to see what happens. Everyone, ncluding myself, needs to budget and live within their means. In the end if we can hold out and survive this turmoil we will be rewarded.
2 Blue,
I agree with most of what you say, we need to budget and live within our means and plan for our own retirements, but some of this fall on the sholders of the company and management. JB should budget in some cost of living raises for the crewmembers. They constantly say we are what make the "JetBlue Experience". So they need to "maintain" this aspect of the company just like we budget for increased mx cost on our airplanes, not just pep talks. No pep talk ever made an engine run longer or skip scheduled MX!
The pay scale was set in Fall 2001 and there has been no cost of living raises since then (even when the margin was in the 15-20% range). Right now,
WE are bearing a major burden of the cost of maintaining a profit margin by not getting a pay raise. I am not asking for some outragous amount like you have seen in the past at the other majors (even SWA), but just a simple cost of living raise to help compensate for inflation. The paycheck only goes so far, and profit sharing (if any) doesn't pay the day to day bills. We get lots of promises and talk, but all we see is lots of talk and broken promises. Hey, just raise the price of a ticket a couple of bucks and give everyone in the entire company the raises they deserve. Every major out there has already proven that lowering cost to maintain load factors doesn't work . It doesn't help to make a profit, but it does help keep/drive labor down to the lowest price they or the judge can give them.
I do support JB and I like to think I give 110% when I work (just like most of our pilots do), but I can only give 110% for so long. 110% requires motivaiton. But I can only stay motivated so long. Declining morale due to broken promises and no cost of living raises, crew services, constant IROPS, will make this decline to the point most of our pilots will only due what is requied. That 10% will go away and never be recovered. Keeping morale and attitude up is easier than restoring it after it has been lost (trend we are on right now). Doing "just enough" or "just the minimum" or "only what I have to do" will become the norm and we will become just like the big guys.
Are we there yet, no. But we are on the road to it, and the throttle is TOGA! We need quick action to fix things and $$$ in our paycheck to show for it (just cost of living raise, nothing big). That is the only way to change this train. Promises that never occur or take forever to implement won't hack it any more.
Just my opinion....
FNG