Originally Posted by YellowBanana

What are you talking about? FDX has been a great pilot career for decades, long before the lost years. It is susceptible to global economic downturns like all corps (current situation), but the company has always been conservative and quick to respond. One may even say they’ve over reacted in the past. No place is perfect, but this has been a relatively stable spot for pilots to hang their hats.

We never know what the long term plans are, but some of the comments here and on JF lead me to believe there are lots of guys and gals here that aren’t familiar at all with this organization and failed to do their homework before accepting a job here. If you think that this is the first challenging period as a pilot in recent FedEx history, then I’ve got news for you. Plenty of stagnation here in the past, excess bids, downgrades, canceled bids, etc. They consistently tend to overshoot and then severely undershoot on the other side with similar waves in regards to forecasting the needs of the business. Sounds familiar…
Read some of the old flight ops magazines to get a picture of how mgmt has operated during other downturns and also during past negotiating cycles. You’ll find that they sound very similar to what we’ve heard and witnessed over the past 2 years.

One thing is certain, they will always play hard ball and do everything possible to bust the resiliency of the pilot group and they are generally very successful at this. They have teams of labor lawyers that do a great job of playing these psychological games and always have. It tends to border on what would be considered sinister and even unethical, but it’s really no different than strategies every airline has used in the past. NO one should’ve been surprised when they doubled down on this after the failed TA and we should fully expect a few more Easter eggs of doom and gloom as mediation progresses. That is their playbook so don’t let it catch you off guard.

Originally Posted by YellowBanana

What are you talking about? FDX has been a great pilot career for decades, long before the lost years. It is susceptible to global economic downturns like all corps (current situation), but the company has always been conservative and quick to respond. One may even say they’ve over reacted in the past. No place is perfect, but this has been a relatively stable spot for pilots to hang their hats.

We never know what the long term plans are, but some of the comments here and on JF lead me to believe there are lots of guys and gals here that aren’t familiar at all with this organization and failed to do their homework before accepting a job here. If you think that this is the first challenging period as a pilot in recent FedEx history, then I’ve got news for you. Plenty of stagnation here in the past, excess bids, downgrades, canceled bids, etc. They consistently tend to overshoot and then severely undershoot on the other side with similar waves in regards to forecasting the needs of the business. Sounds familiar…
Read some of the old flight ops magazines to get a picture of how mgmt has operated during other downturns and also during past negotiating cycles. You’ll find that they sound very similar to what we’ve heard and witnessed over the past 2 years.

One thing is certain, they will always play hard ball and do everything possible to bust the resiliency of the pilot group and they are generally very successful at this. They have teams of labor lawyers that do a great job of playing these psychological games and always have. It tends to border on what would be considered sinister and even unethical, but it’s really no different than strategies every airline has used in the past. NO one should’ve been surprised when they doubled down on this after the failed TA and we should fully expect a few more Easter eggs of doom and gloom as mediation progresses. That is their playbook so don’t let it catch you off guard.

Originally Posted by threeighteen

The big issue is that 2000 of our pilots sided with management in July, either out of fear or for personal gain. The WhatsApp group is actively working against us too. Most other companies have their company men, but not as widespread as we do.

Originally Posted by jackryan

Speaking of the WhatsApp, I bet they* are so baffled right now.

They* made a lot of assumptions.

Originally Posted by threeighteen

Originally Posted by YellowBanana

What are you talking about? FDX has been a great pilot career for decades, long before the lost years. It is susceptible to global economic downturns like all corps (current situation), but the company has always been conservative and quick to respond. One may even say they’ve over reacted in the past. No place is perfect, but this has been a relatively stable spot for pilots to hang their hats.

We never know what the long term plans are, but some of the comments here and on JF lead me to believe there are lots of guys and gals here that aren’t familiar at all with this organization and failed to do their homework before accepting a job here. If you think that this is the first challenging period as a pilot in recent FedEx history, then I’ve got news for you. Plenty of stagnation here in the past, excess bids, downgrades, canceled bids, etc. They consistently tend to overshoot and then severely undershoot on the other side with similar waves in regards to forecasting the needs of the business. Sounds familiar…
Read some of the old flight ops magazines to get a picture of how mgmt has operated during other downturns and also during past negotiating cycles. You’ll find that they sound very similar to what we’ve heard and witnessed over the past 2 years.

One thing is certain, they will always play hard ball and do everything possible to bust the resiliency of the pilot group and they are generally very successful at this. They have teams of labor lawyers that do a great job of playing these psychological games and always have. It tends to border on what would be considered sinister and even unethical, but it’s really no different than strategies every airline has used in the past. NO one should’ve been surprised when they doubled down on this after the failed TA and we should fully expect a few more Easter eggs of doom and gloom as mediation progresses. That is their playbook so don’t let it catch you off guard.

Originally Posted by threeighteen

https://i.imgflip.com/8g3fu0.jpg

Originally Posted by Anomjnom12

Totally agree with all the above. Not talking about that.

I’m referring to the toxic culture as a whole. Didn’t take me long to see it and I saw it before negotiations even started. Glad you enjoy it though!

also - I did my homework. Talked with friends who are there, looked around here. Check out Covid times on here and all the positive talk. I don’t share those positive experiences.

Originally Posted by threeighteen

The big issue is that 2000 of our pilots sided with management in July, either out of fear or for personal gain. The WhatsApp group is actively working against us too. Most other companies have their company men, but not as widespread as we do.

Originally Posted by YellowBanana

Not sure what specific “toxic” culture is you’re referring to (except for the 12 angry men on the JF/APC echo chamber). Those individuals certainly don’t represent the vast majority of guys I’ve encountered here… If you look back jusssst before Covid though, late 2019 and even early 2020, you’ll see that it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies. Little hiring, talks of an excess bid, speculations that 4a2 could possibly make an appearance, upcoming negotiations, etc. The usual subjects in a cyclical business like this one… Covid turned this entire industry on its head and created a massive recoil effect that will take a few years to stabilize, but it will eventually normalize until the next black swan rears its head.