Omni Air Pilot Negotiations update
01-30-2017, 10:20 AM
#31
Line Holder
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Jan 2017
Position: CA/FO/IRO
Posts: 75
Latest email from the Union P2P and Family Awareness Committee
Dear Omni Pilots,
Last Friday, Omni sent another message to our pilot group. After writing that it didn't want to get into a “war of words,” it wrote over 1,300 of them with the clear intention of trying to cast a dim light upon our negotiators.
Your P2P Committee is not worried about a war of words. That war is winnable when the facts are presented, and the company's efforts here only serve as a feeble attempt to divide and conquer our UNIFIED GROUP. Worse, while the company is waging a losing battle of persuasion, it’s wasting everyone’s time. The company has chosen to spend the past six weeks leafleting and lobbying individual members of the pilot group, instead of bargaining effectively with our volunteer negotiators.
How did we get here? Because ownership refused to continue to bargain over how it pays you. Instead, it made a self-serving ultimatum, walked away from the bargaining table, warned that it might file for mediation and then did exactly that. Before filing, the Company described mediation as “tedious mediated bargaining stretching over several years.” During this time, the company will continue to reap high margins from our substandard work conditions. More money for them at your expense. The next time you are sitting in economy class, give this some thought.
Omni ending direct negotiations and filing for mediation doesn’t make for a very good story. And since Omni has walked away from bargaining with our elected representatives, we get letters to individual pilots containing management spin. The letters highlight the good, exaggerate the mediocre, and completely omit the bad. At the moment, the letters are friendly, but they’ll start to play on your fears if you do not capitulate.
Of course, the spin only tells part of the story, and we cannot forget with whom we are dealing. For one example, during bargaining earlier this summer, the company took the stance that it would not purchase transportation for a pilot who qualified for a leave of absence on a trip. Thus, if you learned that your spouse was dying during a layover in Shannon, the company would strand you in Ireland and force you to pay for your own way home. The negotiating committee could think of no other airline that treated its pilots so poorly and told management as much. As a concession, the company proposed that it would purchase an airline ticket home if, for example, your wife died; but still refused to provide travel while she was in the process of dying. The company was generous enough to book travel for you to pay respects to your wife’s corpse, but not so generous to pay for you to get home to comfort your wife while she was grievously ill. It took four months of bargaining to reach a compromise on this issue, which in its current form is less than what most companies do as a matter of course. Just another unfortunate example of Omni maximizing their net profits at your expense.
That didn’t make the company’s letter – it doesn’t fit the narrative. But it does remind us of some of the motives behind the letter. And even the items that DID make the company’s letter have stories behind them that you’ll be very interested in hearing.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing more stories with you concerning negotiations and where Omni stands in the industry. Not propaganda designed to depress labor costs. Just the facts. We want you to be a fully informed pilot group that knows its rights.
Fraternally,
P2P Committee
Family Awareness Committee
Dear Omni Pilots,
Last Friday, Omni sent another message to our pilot group. After writing that it didn't want to get into a “war of words,” it wrote over 1,300 of them with the clear intention of trying to cast a dim light upon our negotiators.
Your P2P Committee is not worried about a war of words. That war is winnable when the facts are presented, and the company's efforts here only serve as a feeble attempt to divide and conquer our UNIFIED GROUP. Worse, while the company is waging a losing battle of persuasion, it’s wasting everyone’s time. The company has chosen to spend the past six weeks leafleting and lobbying individual members of the pilot group, instead of bargaining effectively with our volunteer negotiators.
How did we get here? Because ownership refused to continue to bargain over how it pays you. Instead, it made a self-serving ultimatum, walked away from the bargaining table, warned that it might file for mediation and then did exactly that. Before filing, the Company described mediation as “tedious mediated bargaining stretching over several years.” During this time, the company will continue to reap high margins from our substandard work conditions. More money for them at your expense. The next time you are sitting in economy class, give this some thought.
Omni ending direct negotiations and filing for mediation doesn’t make for a very good story. And since Omni has walked away from bargaining with our elected representatives, we get letters to individual pilots containing management spin. The letters highlight the good, exaggerate the mediocre, and completely omit the bad. At the moment, the letters are friendly, but they’ll start to play on your fears if you do not capitulate.
Of course, the spin only tells part of the story, and we cannot forget with whom we are dealing. For one example, during bargaining earlier this summer, the company took the stance that it would not purchase transportation for a pilot who qualified for a leave of absence on a trip. Thus, if you learned that your spouse was dying during a layover in Shannon, the company would strand you in Ireland and force you to pay for your own way home. The negotiating committee could think of no other airline that treated its pilots so poorly and told management as much. As a concession, the company proposed that it would purchase an airline ticket home if, for example, your wife died; but still refused to provide travel while she was in the process of dying. The company was generous enough to book travel for you to pay respects to your wife’s corpse, but not so generous to pay for you to get home to comfort your wife while she was grievously ill. It took four months of bargaining to reach a compromise on this issue, which in its current form is less than what most companies do as a matter of course. Just another unfortunate example of Omni maximizing their net profits at your expense.
That didn’t make the company’s letter – it doesn’t fit the narrative. But it does remind us of some of the motives behind the letter. And even the items that DID make the company’s letter have stories behind them that you’ll be very interested in hearing.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing more stories with you concerning negotiations and where Omni stands in the industry. Not propaganda designed to depress labor costs. Just the facts. We want you to be a fully informed pilot group that knows its rights.
Fraternally,
P2P Committee
Family Awareness Committee
01-31-2017, 10:22 AM
#32
Line Holder
Joined APC: Nov 2013
Posts: 28
The pay at Kalitta is so far ahead of Omni it's a joke. Right now the12 year co-pilot pay never reaches the first year pay at Kalitta. Plus Omni has a 60 hr vs 64 and 2 less days per month. Forget about captain pay. Third year co-pilot pay at kalitta is 7th year captain pay at Onmi. That's alot of money to leave on the table for doing the same job.
02-10-2017, 12:48 PM
#33
Line Holder
Joined APC: Feb 2017
Position: 767. Left seat
Posts: 25
Company is calling ex employees to see if they can sweet talk them back.
Proof they can't hire off the street.
Proof they can't hire off the street.
02-10-2017, 01:07 PM
#34
Line Holder
Joined APC: Jul 2011
Posts: 49
Things are looking worst than ever. Job fair was a bust, all of our flow through airlines are a no flow. A more than two decade policy of no hire back is gone, and nobody is coming back. Losing more than five senior Captains a month. Two people received calls yesterday as we talked to go some place else. TUL filed for mediation tying our hands for negotiations. All the bad faith bargaining done by the company has everyone wanting to leave. If this keeps up we will be parking airplanes.
02-10-2017, 01:29 PM
#35
On Reserve
Joined APC: Jan 2017
Posts: 10
Omni has no chance of getting guys back. There are numerous reasons they left in the first place. Omni has nothing to offer to get people to come back or stay for that matter. Pay is embarrassingly low, the work rules are non-existent, travel is beyond miserable, and management is hostile. All this has placed Omni a distant last choice for anybody looking for a job. Present, past, or future employees can do so much better for themselves, their career, and their family by taking one of the much better options.
02-10-2017, 04:22 PM
#36
On Reserve
Joined APC: Jan 2017
Posts: 13
Their business model won't allow them to pay us industry standard. They get all the money, we get all the work. That is their business model. Are you freaking kidding me!
02-10-2017, 09:51 PM
#37
On Reserve
Joined APC: Jan 2017
Posts: 10
Times change and so can business models. They have been greedy bullies for 20+ years. They will have to quickly come around to a significantly improved contract, not just a pay increase, or they will have nobody left to fly their airplanes and then they will make no money.
02-11-2017, 03:45 PM
#38
Line Holder
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Jan 2017
Position: CA/FO/IRO
Posts: 75
Originally Posted by AvgJoe99
Company is calling ex employees to see if they can sweet talk them back.
Proof they can't hire off the street.
Proof they can't hire off the street.
02-13-2017, 08:55 AM
#39
Line Holder
Joined APC: Feb 2017
Position: 767. Left seat
Posts: 25
Seems the only pilots Omni wants are the ones who left them.
Kinda like a disfunctional relationship
Kinda like a disfunctional relationship
02-13-2017, 01:04 PM
#40
Just Plane Stupid
Joined APC: Feb 2006
Position: Captain
Posts: 459
Omni is concerned about attracting new pilots, but could care less about the experienced captains that carry the operation on the line or training department. Better get that OpSpec that lets new hires upgrade themselves when scheduling says they are ready. The company truly doesn't like or want pilots in their airline and will take all opportunities to belittle any contribution from the group regarding Omni's success. Time to leave.
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