Shame On You CitationAir Management!!!!
05-04-2012, 09:39 AM
#1
New Hire
Thread Starter
Joined APC: May 2012
Posts: 1
Shame On You CitationAir Management!!!!
Company Intent Revealed
CitationAir Pilots To Be Slowly Eliminated And Replaced With Non-Company Flight Crews!
On Monday afternoon, April 9, 2012, your negotiating team traveled to White Plains, NY to prepare for our third bargaining session of the year. This was the first face-to-face meeting of the parties following February’s stalemate brought about by management’s refusal to adopt industry standard furlough and recall Letter of Agreement (LOA), and their unilateral implementation of a sub-standard voluntary separation program. In spite of this disappointment, your negotiators arrived open minded and acutely focused on moving forward with the issues and contract sections where common ground might be found.
The parties met Tuesday morning, April 10th, at Company headquarters in Greenwich, CT. IBT International Representative Capt. Rick Dubinsky quickly requested a briefing from CitationAir CEO Bill Schultz that would better explain the full intent of the Company’s new business model and the product lines he unveiled during a business update webinar for pilots on March 23rd.
Mr. Shultz provided your negotiating team with a shortened version of his March 23rd webinar presentation. He stated the Company’s business plans were still in the development phase, but he expected to have them firmed up and announced by early May for a rollout shortly thereafter. He emphasized that going forward, the entire focus of the Company’s business model will be to help sell Cessna’s products and services. Through a follow-up Q&A session, your representatives were able to obtain additional specifics. Unfortunately, most of what we heard was quite disturbing with respect to the career prospects of each and every CitationAir pilot.
In essence, management plans on having three primary lines of business as the Company exits the fractional market. Two of these programs—Jet Cards/charter and managed aircraft—are already familiar to us, although they will be somewhat different in the future. The third program, which is new, is currently being referred to as the “Owner Network.”
Under the new business model, Cessna’s existing or future aircraft owners would be offered the option of having CitationAir manage their planes, including providing flight crews, or they could choose to manage their own aircraft, be responsible for selecting and hiring flight crews and place the aircraft in the “Owner Network.”
Ultimately, it appears the vast majority—if not all—of CitationAir’s future flight operations will be conducted using either managed aircraft or aircraft from the “Owner Network.” If fully implemented as planned by management, this would be good news for potential Cessna aircraft sales and services; good news for Cessna’s customers and their employees; good news for CitationAir’s executives and administrative personnel, who are working very hard to keep their own jobs; but VERY BAD NEWS for CitationAir pilots, who would see their job and career opportunities at this Company severely constrained, eliminated or outsourced to third-party crews flying aircraft in the “Owner Network.”
Mr. Schultz stated that only those CitationAir pilots who have been recommended by management and selected by individual managed aircraft owners would have jobs in that particular program. Aircraft owners would have the final say about how many and which pilots are assigned to their individual aircraft. Selected pilots would be expected to uproot their families and move to the vicinity of where the aircraft are based, which would be at locations selected by the owners, not the Company. Continued assignment, and presumably employment, would be subject to how well the pilots get along with the owner, his/her family and associates. When a managed aircraft owner is not using the aircraft, it could be used by CitationAir to fly Jet Card and charter customers with the CitationAir pilots selected to “live” with an owner’s aircraft doing the flying. The havoc such a program would wreak on the integrity of any seniority system should be obvious.
Aircraft in the “Owner Network” would be flown by pilots who are NOT CitationAir employees, according to Mr. Schultz. The owners would hire, fire and pay for their own flight crews as they see fit. He stated the Company planned on offering training for these crews to meet Part 135 standards, so these aircraft and outside crews could be put on CitationAir’s operating certificate and fly CitationAir trips. If this program comes to pass as designed, it would be nothing more than a stark-naked transfer of OUR work to non-seniority list pilots.
Your negotiating team responded pointedly and directly to Mr. Schultz and the other CitationAir, Cessna and Textron representatives at the negotiating table. Capt. Dubinsky stated the Union recognized the need for the Company to change its business model in order to survive and become profitable in the ever-changing private jet transportation marketplace. It is a fundamental truth that a profitable company enhances the prospect of good jobs. Capt. Dubinsky also made it clear that CitationAir’s survival has no real value to the pilots on the seniority list, including furloughed pilots, if management transfers OUR flying to third-party flight crews. He emphasized, in very specific terms, that there are certain lines in the sand that the Union will not cross, nor sit back and allow the Company to cross. Blatant job outsourcing, such as management envisions, is one of those lines.
After that exchange, management’s negotiators were asked if they had any counter-proposals to the many contract sections that are in their “court” awaiting their response. Only one of these outstanding sections—Section 13-Crew Bases—may have to be tabled for the time being, since it deals with an operational issue that may be directly affected by the new managed aircraft program. All of the other sections awaiting management’s response consist primarily of “boiler plate,” industry standard language and concepts that are found in virtually all pilot contracts pursuant to the Railway Labor Act (RLA). Your Negotiating Committee reiterated that responses from the Company were past due.
Management retreated to caucus for the rest of the day and most of Wednesday. When the parties resumed meeting across the bargaining table at approximately 1600 Wednesday afternoon, management’s representatives informed your negotiators that the Company had heard and clearly understood the objections we raised regarding the job outsourcing component of the “Owner Network” program. They stated the Company was, as a consequence, revisiting that concept and would reexamine their business model with our objections in mind. However, they made no guarantees they would abandon their original concept. Your negotiators then presented the Company’s team with a formal information request designed to obtain very specific data on the Company’s future plans, including their actual business plans.
Discussions between the parties moved from the future business plans to bargaining over specific contract sections. Management’s representatives presented counter-proposals on the following sections: Section 18-Union Representation; 21-Grievance Procedure; and, 23-General Conditions. With that exchange, bargaining concluded for the week due to scheduling conflicts unrelated to CitationAir that required members of your negotiating team to depart White Plaines that evening.
The parties will next meet during the week of June 4, 2012, with bargaining dates now set into September.
Table Talk
As mentioned above, your representatives were very disturbed by the revelations of what management has planned regarding the future for the hundreds of CitationAir pilots who have spent years and years helping to build this Company. Management may still attempt to implement a business model that potentially puts most, if not all, CitationAir pilots on the street. Simply put: 1) Their current plans would provide jobs for members of management, who’s primary function in the future would be to help Cessna sell airplanes and services; 2) if the “Owner Network” outsourcing were to go forward as planned, there would be jobs for third-party flight crews but, 3) there would be VERY LIMITED OR NO JOBS FOR US!
We are encouraged that management decided to reevaluate their positions after your representative expressed their strong opposition. However, we remain cautious and extremely concerned. There is no assurance, whatsoever, that management will actually back away from the more onerous aspects of their developing business plan. Rest assured, the Teamsters and your representatives will closely monitor their announcements.
So, what can you do? You can choose to lower your head and adopt a defeatist attitude, trying to hang on for as long as you can. You can “carry the junk,” and fly tired and hungry, while doing anything and everything to provide “Yellow Tie Service,” even though you believe it may be questionable or illegal. You can hope that a replacement flying job comes along before you are furloughed or your job is outsourced to an outsider. If you succumb to such apathy and questionable practices, you will only be aiding and abetting management as they decimate our ranks and potentially destroy our jobs. Then, just like the Titanic 100 years ago, you will surely go down to the bottom. Make no mistake: Your Union is your only life raft that can help save your career at this Company, but it can’t do it without your involvement.
If you want to help convince management that it is in everyone’s best interest for them to modify their business model and abandon job outsourcing, the very best way to achieve that goal is to support your Union in every way you can. Get involved, join a committee and pay your dues. Also, continue to do the job you are being paid to do by CitationAir—do it professionally, correctly, legally and, above all, safely. The Teamsters have the resources—politically and strategically—and the will to engage with management and convince them to modify their ideas. Doing so has worked before at other properties, and it will surely work here.
With your support this fight is far from over.
Last edited by USMCFLYR; 05-04-2012 at 10:18 AM.
05-04-2012, 04:40 PM
#3
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2007
Position: F/O- G-V/550
Posts: 1,163
Originally Posted by BooYah
Company Intent Revealed
CitationAir Pilots To Be Slowly Eliminated And Replaced With Non-Company Flight Crews!
Mr. Schultz stated that only those CitationAir pilots who have been recommended by management and selected by individual managed aircraft owners would have jobs in that particular program. Aircraft owners would have the final say about how many and which pilots are assigned to their individual aircraft. Selected pilots would be expected to uproot their families and move to the vicinity of where the aircraft are based, which would be at locations selected by the owners, not the Company. Continued assignment, and presumably employment, would be subject to how well the pilots get along with the owner, his/her family and associates. When a managed aircraft owner is not using the aircraft, it could be used by CitationAir to fly Jet Card and charter customers with the CitationAir pilots selected to “live” with an owner’s aircraft doing the flying. The havoc such a program would wreak on the integrity of any seniority system should be obvious.
Aircraft in the “Owner Network” would be flown by pilots who are NOT CitationAir employees, according to Mr. Schultz. The owners would hire, fire and pay for their own flight crews as they see fit. He stated the Company planned on offering training for these crews to meet Part 135 standards, so these aircraft and outside crews could be put on CitationAir’s operating certificate and fly CitationAir trips. If this program comes to pass as designed, it would be nothing more than a stark-naked transfer of OUR work to non-seniority list pilots.
.
05-04-2012, 11:16 PM
#4
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2011
Posts: 178
Not sure who you are, but I object to you posting this. I thought union stuff was for the pilots, not for everyone. In that case, to be fair, maybe you should post the latest union memos about write ups and fatigue? Some just may interpret that as trying to shut the company down. I doubt you would be advancing an illegal job action though..
05-05-2012, 11:09 AM
#7
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2009
Position: 7ERB
Posts: 2,039
Originally Posted by BooYah
Company Intent Revealed
CitationAir Pilots To Be Slowly Eliminated And Replaced With Non-Company Flight Crews!
On Monday afternoon, April 9, 2012, your negotiating team traveled to White Plains, NY to prepare for our third bargaining session of the year. This was the first face-to-face meeting of the parties following February’s stalemate brought about by management’s refusal to adopt industry standard furlough and recall Letter of Agreement (LOA), and their unilateral implementation of a sub-standard voluntary separation program. In spite of this disappointment, your negotiators arrived open minded and acutely focused on moving forward with the issues and contract sections where common ground might be found.
The parties met Tuesday morning, April 10th, at Company headquarters in Greenwich, CT. IBT International Representative Capt. Rick Dubinsky quickly requested a briefing from CitationAir CEO Bill Schultz that would better explain the full intent of the Company’s new business model and the product lines he unveiled during a business update webinar for pilots on March 23rd.
Mr. Shultz provided your negotiating team with a shortened version of his March 23rd webinar presentation. He stated the Company’s business plans were still in the development phase, but he expected to have them firmed up and announced by early May for a rollout shortly thereafter. He emphasized that going forward, the entire focus of the Company’s business model will be to help sell Cessna’s products and services. Through a follow-up Q&A session, your representatives were able to obtain additional specifics. Unfortunately, most of what we heard was quite disturbing with respect to the career prospects of each and every CitationAir pilot.
In essence, management plans on having three primary lines of business as the Company exits the fractional market. Two of these programs—Jet Cards/charter and managed aircraft—are already familiar to us, although they will be somewhat different in the future. The third program, which is new, is currently being referred to as the “Owner Network.”
Under the new business model, Cessna’s existing or future aircraft owners would be offered the option of having CitationAir manage their planes, including providing flight crews, or they could choose to manage their own aircraft, be responsible for selecting and hiring flight crews and place the aircraft in the “Owner Network.”
Ultimately, it appears the vast majority—if not all—of CitationAir’s future flight operations will be conducted using either managed aircraft or aircraft from the “Owner Network.” If fully implemented as planned by management, this would be good news for potential Cessna aircraft sales and services; good news for Cessna’s customers and their employees; good news for CitationAir’s executives and administrative personnel, who are working very hard to keep their own jobs; but VERY BAD NEWS for CitationAir pilots, who would see their job and career opportunities at this Company severely constrained, eliminated or outsourced to third-party crews flying aircraft in the “Owner Network.”
Mr. Schultz stated that only those CitationAir pilots who have been recommended by management and selected by individual managed aircraft owners would have jobs in that particular program. Aircraft owners would have the final say about how many and which pilots are assigned to their individual aircraft. Selected pilots would be expected to uproot their families and move to the vicinity of where the aircraft are based, which would be at locations selected by the owners, not the Company. Continued assignment, and presumably employment, would be subject to how well the pilots get along with the owner, his/her family and associates. When a managed aircraft owner is not using the aircraft, it could be used by CitationAir to fly Jet Card and charter customers with the CitationAir pilots selected to “live” with an owner’s aircraft doing the flying. The havoc such a program would wreak on the integrity of any seniority system should be obvious.
Aircraft in the “Owner Network” would be flown by pilots who are NOT CitationAir employees, according to Mr. Schultz. The owners would hire, fire and pay for their own flight crews as they see fit. He stated the Company planned on offering training for these crews to meet Part 135 standards, so these aircraft and outside crews could be put on CitationAir’s operating certificate and fly CitationAir trips. If this program comes to pass as designed, it would be nothing more than a stark-naked transfer of OUR work to non-seniority list pilots.
Your negotiating team responded pointedly and directly to Mr. Schultz and the other CitationAir, Cessna and Textron representatives at the negotiating table. Capt. Dubinsky stated the Union recognized the need for the Company to change its business model in order to survive and become profitable in the ever-changing private jet transportation marketplace. It is a fundamental truth that a profitable company enhances the prospect of good jobs. Capt. Dubinsky also made it clear that CitationAir’s survival has no real value to the pilots on the seniority list, including furloughed pilots, if management transfers OUR flying to third-party flight crews. He emphasized, in very specific terms, that there are certain lines in the sand that the Union will not cross, nor sit back and allow the Company to cross. Blatant job outsourcing, such as management envisions, is one of those lines.
After that exchange, management’s negotiators were asked if they had any counter-proposals to the many contract sections that are in their “court” awaiting their response. Only one of these outstanding sections—Section 13-Crew Bases—may have to be tabled for the time being, since it deals with an operational issue that may be directly affected by the new managed aircraft program. All of the other sections awaiting management’s response consist primarily of “boiler plate,” industry standard language and concepts that are found in virtually all pilot contracts pursuant to the Railway Labor Act (RLA). Your Negotiating Committee reiterated that responses from the Company were past due.
Management retreated to caucus for the rest of the day and most of Wednesday. When the parties resumed meeting across the bargaining table at approximately 1600 Wednesday afternoon, management’s representatives informed your negotiators that the Company had heard and clearly understood the objections we raised regarding the job outsourcing component of the “Owner Network” program. They stated the Company was, as a consequence, revisiting that concept and would reexamine their business model with our objections in mind. However, they made no guarantees they would abandon their original concept. Your negotiators then presented the Company’s team with a formal information request designed to obtain very specific data on the Company’s future plans, including their actual business plans.
Discussions between the parties moved from the future business plans to bargaining over specific contract sections. Management’s representatives presented counter-proposals on the following sections: Section 18-Union Representation; 21-Grievance Procedure; and, 23-General Conditions. With that exchange, bargaining concluded for the week due to scheduling conflicts unrelated to CitationAir that required members of your negotiating team to depart White Plaines that evening.
The parties will next meet during the week of June 4, 2012, with bargaining dates now set into September.
Table Talk
As mentioned above, your representatives were very disturbed by the revelations of what management has planned regarding the future for the hundreds of CitationAir pilots who have spent years and years helping to build this Company. Management may still attempt to implement a business model that potentially puts most, if not all, CitationAir pilots on the street. Simply put: 1) Their current plans would provide jobs for members of management, who’s primary function in the future would be to help Cessna sell airplanes and services; 2) if the “Owner Network” outsourcing were to go forward as planned, there would be jobs for third-party flight crews but, 3) there would be VERY LIMITED OR NO JOBS FOR US!
We are encouraged that management decided to reevaluate their positions after your representative expressed their strong opposition. However, we remain cautious and extremely concerned. There is no assurance, whatsoever, that management will actually back away from the more onerous aspects of their developing business plan. Rest assured, the Teamsters and your representatives will closely monitor their announcements.
So, what can you do? You can choose to lower your head and adopt a defeatist attitude, trying to hang on for as long as you can. You can “carry the junk,” and fly tired and hungry, while doing anything and everything to provide “Yellow Tie Service,” even though you believe it may be questionable or illegal. You can hope that a replacement flying job comes along before you are furloughed or your job is outsourced to an outsider. If you succumb to such apathy and questionable practices, you will only be aiding and abetting management as they decimate our ranks and potentially destroy our jobs. Then, just like the Titanic 100 years ago, you will surely go down to the bottom. Make no mistake: Your Union is your only life raft that can help save your career at this Company, but it can’t do it without your involvement.
If you want to help convince management that it is in everyone’s best interest for them to modify their business model and abandon job outsourcing, the very best way to achieve that goal is to support your Union in every way you can. Get involved, join a committee and pay your dues. Also, continue to do the job you are being paid to do by CitationAir—do it professionally, correctly, legally and, above all, safely. The Teamsters have the resources—politically and strategically—and the will to engage with management and convince them to modify their ideas. Doing so has worked before at other properties, and it will surely work here.
With your support this fight is far from over.
TEN
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
