Originally Posted by
TSA796
That is not an exaggeration. The management of TSA and by extension GJ operated without any concern for TSA employees. What people do not understand is the reason they behaved this way. Let's take a little trip back to the beginning of TSA. At the very beginning of TSA, they were not a union represented airline. Shortly after they started operating Hulas was involved in the day-to-day operation of the airline. His privileged upbringing in India shaped his beliefs that his company could be run just like the CAS system in India. For those not familiar with that system it is essentially a ruling rich class and then an oppressed working class. When he came to this country, he brought those beliefs and thoughts with him. I am not here to tell you that Hulas is an evil man, on the contrary I flew with very senior TSA pilots who were invited to his house for dinner and treated quite well. He tried to treat his pilots as though they were his family (slaves). He had monthly gatherings for his family in which he tried to form a bond with his pilots. Unfortunately, his beliefs and the vast majority of his pilots diverged as he began to not respond to their concerns about their treatment. This all culminated in a meeting where a pilot was very outspoken during a meeting. Hulas basically told him that he would run his airline how he wanted to, and he could leave if he did not like it. Well, you can guess what transpired over the next several months. ALPA was voted in, and the relationship was permanently severed. From that day forward Hulas disowned his children and did not have any meaningful communications directly with his pilots ever again. This went on until the closing of TSA. What essentially happened to Hulas is he was deeply hurt and upset that his children turned on him. He never has been able to get over that emotion. This is where GJ comes into the picture. The (illegal) creation of GJ was just a way for Hulas to dispense with TSA as his main income over time. The sequence of events which transpired are eloquently described in the white paper above. GJ was formed by TSA management and a few TSA pilots who controlled the union at GJ. What Hulas did was perform an end run around the TSA CBA and form an airline that he could control and run as he had wanted to do with TSA. So GJ has now had a long reputation of bad management and disregard of their employees. The exact thing that prompted TSA pilots to vote in ALPA against Hulas. So today Hulas is wealthy, and he and his family reside on the beach in Boca Raton FL. TSA is no longer an operating airline. Did Hulas win? What did not go according to his plan was GJ did not flourish as a company. The flawed management of GJ were just an extension of Hulas and his beliefs. Hulas is a very smart man but his understanding of how-to manage a company is flawed. He is now going to live the lesson that he should have just maned up and moved forward to a constructive relationship with his TSA pilots. GJ is going to fade away off the airline horizon. What is really sad is the hard work the TSA and GJ pilots put in over the last 30 years will go down in history as the worst managed airlines of all time. Anyone who took a job at GJ should have done their homework as they enabled this corrupt team to continue their corrupt ways. Today the employees are connected to this corruption even if they don't even know about it or acknowledge it. As they close the doors at GJ for the last time all the employees will feel the pain of this corruption. I do not hold any ill will for these people except for any left from the TSA pilots and management who jumped ship to form GJ. They will carry this crime with them to their graves. Hulas will just fade away and the airline world will be better off for it.
This should be a pinned post at the top of the GoJet forum. I’m going to put this on a gold plaque and sneak it into HQ in STL and hang it on the wall. Cheers
RIP Waterski