Originally Posted by
Herkulesdrvr
The guys I have talked to that don't want a union are pretty set on voting no, a few fence sitters here and there. I have had guys tell me "there is no need for a union here at jetblue right now." My first reaction is to grab my o2 mask to overcome the instantaneous nausea, then after a minute or two I ask why they feel this way. Some of the more ridiclous answers I have heard are "Dave Barger cares about the pilots. He is going to fix things, but can't do anything now because we are voting for union." This is not about being anyone's friend, this is business and putting emotion into this about our CEO "caring" is extremely dangerous to our future. Of course he wants to show he cares because it psychologically puts a person or work group in a moral dilemma.
Let me say it again JB pilots, management is not our friend or buddy. They run a business and putting this whole thing about us liking each other and having a great culture is showing our foolishness as a pilot group. Management loves us because its easy to manipulate pilots if you can get them believing they care about you. Employees will do anything if you can manipulate them enough. Unfortunately, we are a perfect example of manipulation, look how many of us have lined up to work here for substandard pay and benefits, right? Heck, there are a whole slew of them in the pool right now waiting to get hired. So management's plan is working, they manipulate, we work for nothing.
The only people that Dave Barger is truly worried about are the board of directors and stock holders. The best thing for us to do is to get greedy, real greedy and start thinking about OURSELVES and not management, after all it's just business.
Well, I may be proven wrong, but I came to JetBlue to because I felt that it might be nice to be a part of something a little different from the normal bitter pilot-management relationship dynamic. I met Dave once during my training and was impressed with his vision and focus on building something better. Although I only met the man once before, I attended one of the open forums Dave and Russ had last week, and he remembered my name! I was wearing my coat and my badge was hanging from my shirt collar out of view. I have been here two years and the CEO remembered my name, which tells me the guy has a real gift when it comes to people skills (how many airline CEOs ask you about your wife and kids?). We chatted for a bit and I told him that while I enjoy coming to work, I was very disappointed with the pcrb results and 190 pay rates. While he could not tell me that they would absolutely be fixed (he legally cannot say that right now), I want to give him the chance to make some necessary corrections. He said that he agrees that these issues need to be addressed sooner than later.
While you look at Dave like a used car salesman, I still see a genuinely caring guy who is trying to do things a bit differently. Sure he has responsibilities to keep the BOD and shareholders in mind, but I saw no sign of him not wanting to fix some of the bigger problems within our company.
After our meeting, I commuted home and shredded my ballot. Sorry, but I am willing to accept the risk associated with working within the current system for now.