FalconFlyer

I don't have the "better them than me attitude" I promise. I want to thank you for not posting some uneducated bullsh!t post that was completely worthless. Its nice to see an informative post on these boards.

Thanks for taking the time to post that. The only experience I have with unions was at UPS when I was a loader/unloader at a hub. Not quite the same thing, but I really didn't gather anything from that experience.

You know whats going to happen now right... B19 and Brokeflyer are gonna be arguing which is worse, unions or mgmt! haha, Nevermind there on the other site. (FI.com). I hope they don't come over here!

Climbto450

This is the time old conflict all corporate pilots have. The union Vs. Non-union subject is a sore subject to alot of people. I have worked for both and say they both have there advantages and disadvantages. Good Luck.

EXXO

As one of the xo jet pilots to get the heave ho, I have to say thanks for all the kind thoughts and conversation on our unfortunate situation. Like many corporate pilots the "union" word was easy to scoff at... untill now, when I find myself unemployed in a poor job market. I can tell you the lay offs were not performance based as any one who's been around xo would know. I had a perfict record and never did the carpet dance, but musta scored low on the popularity scale with the top brass. If it was performance based as they told us, why is the pilot who crashed our falcon by pilot error still hanging in there? Drunk on an airline in uniform and asked to get off, no problem at xo, you're the kinda pilot we look for.
One morning I get a call from the DO, he reads me a form letter and hangs up, two minutes later my black berry don't work and I'm locked outa the email and intranet sites, no explination, no responce to emails sent to the chief pilot or HR. Merry f@#king xmass. It kinda stung.
I was suprised because of how long I had been there (2 plus yrs) and as I said, never been talked to about poor performance. I know the pilots who also got the boot and could say nothing but good about them all!!! Don't know where the one poster heard negative things about them, but I can assure you they were all solid guys and girls.
XO was built by the same group of guys who brought you the dot com bubble, all kinds of hype and borrowed money with no means to actually execute the big plan. Keep an eye on their mid east operation, late to the party and planes no one in that part of the world wants to fly on. They have been trying to go public from the start and when they do...cash in and out the door they will go, leaving a group of pilots and mechs and investors to turn out the lights. In the end I'm trying to stay possitve about the whole industry, the rich will always fly private and thats good for all of us.
As for xo... Good luck to the pilots still there, you may need it. A great group of pilots and friends for the most part. Management...you have a nice xmass and thanks for the support!

EXXO

XO Jet....voted best place in the bay area to work in 08. How bout 09?

jetjockee

Man, so sorry about your situation, what a cowardly way to find out that you have lost your job after 2 years of loyal work. I wish you the best in your search.
I hope this helps! I did see a posting on *************.com for a Citation X contract pilot.

Good Luck!

EXXO

Falcon guy, 23 outa 122 isn't 11 persent. Parking airplanes that have a payment of 150k a month is not a rosie picture, and what about all the aicraft coming from the manufacture? The real picture is, xo jet hype is running out and they know it. They have been counting on the mid east deal to keep them going and that is not going to happen. watch the news, there was a story yesterday about the collaps of UAE, the boom there is over and they just figured it out. They went to MEBA last month and relized they were way behind the curve and had the wrong equipment.
Who ever told you the guys who got ousted were bad apples is full of it, and probibly one of the ops insiders who picked the pilots to get canned.
Talk to someone who was layed off and hear their story about how it happened, no warning, no explination and no regard for the time and hard work they put in. I worked there when we had no sked, just did what was needed to keep the planes flying with no regard for my family life...so don't say you have you're job cuz all the hard work and a55 bustin you been doing. The truth is, you have you're job because the ops clowns that voted on the list don't know you, its that simple!
As a pilot, we should all be concerned about the date of hire deal, it gives you the security to buy a house, put down some roots and just plain sleep at night. If it takes a union then so be it, I wish now that we had one.
Keep a low profile, live outa town, don't attend the xmass party and for god sakes... never have an opion about anything and you may just get threw the next round.
Sorry if that sounds harsh, I'm sure you're a cool dude, I probily interview you and flew with ya.

B727DRVR

Hey EXXO,

Let's do something about this! My dog in this fight is two friends there and whenever any pilot ANYWHERE gets F*&$#d. Do you have a pilot address list and the names of those eliminated in the atrocity? If so, let's call all the Bay area newspapers and television stations (and whatever place voted you the best place to work) and let them know about this atrocity (Only the truth, no commentary or opinion.. The truth is bad enough.) A gutsy pilot group that I was proud to be a part of (and that at least 2 XOJETers worked) used that tactic in the late 90's and it actually worked to get our people back.. Something similar just happened at Flight Options and the stink that was created there I think at least helped those guys back on temporarily with back pay, until they got furloughed again in seniority. Management HATES this kind of embarrasment and bad publicity over the truth: Don't you think that you and your fellow 22 owe management there a Christmas present?

Next, contact the moderators here and lets get a XOJET profile on the Fractional or 135 areas, or wherever it belongs. And them make sure that it states that 23 were TERMINATED, rather than furloughed. It is very important that your fellow pilots out there know what kind of place that XOJET turned into after new management. And don't forget the Flightinfo, propilot world etc. The people need to know. Does Climb to 350 and AirInc. know about this atrocity...? They will when we are finished.

Finally, lets get that pilot address list together and give it to ALPA, IBT, and anyone else we can think of. We can send it out to a few unions and see what happens. Hey, 99 XOJET pilots could provide as much dues as 150 or more pilots at lesser paid airlines that they already represent. If they start sending cards out to pilots homes (you might not want them to go to the management pilots...yet) who knows what might happen. You are terminated, so what else can they do to you. You will be like the Predator driver in Fort Huachuca, AZ engaging the Taliban from afar. Best case is the pilots who are still there are scared and will fill the card out in the privacy of their bathroom (where not even their wife or husband will know), send the card in, and deny it all the way "Those damn unions.... Union bad, XOJET good". If 35 pilots send their cards in, they can at least trigger an election I believe, and that will be a nice payback from you 23 victims. Best case, it could help you get your job back when things get better: Worst case, word will get out and XOJET will spend a ton of $$$ to hire a union busting law firm to have a snake oil salesman come in a fancy suit and tell you how bad unions are while you are eating free Hooters hot wings paid for by the Company (Read Confessions of a Union Buster.. It's shocking what the guy did before he saw the light and gained a conscience). A company will spend $50 million to keep a pilot group from unionizing over a desired $500,000 cumulative pay raise. Yes, they will lie to you and tell you how important it is to keep that "open door" policy they have (you know, the one that they just kicked 23 pilots out of)... Oh, and they must be able to maintain their "flexibility" and not have an outsider come in to tell you pilots what to think and do... Union baaad. Sometimes, just the threat of a union vote is enough to get a pay raise and/or a temporary change in their behavior (If the vote fails, things go back to the same or worse, and the organizers, or the ones that they think are organizers or sympathizers, mysteriously fail their check rides and are terminated for cause... See TransStates 20 years ago or Colgan last year). But, at the very least, the Company will be sweating until the election vote count and your group will have gained their respect (and the union busting law firm guy will have money for his new fractional share on your competition..LOL). What have you got to lose, EXXO, as they hurt you as bad as you can be hurt... But you are still standing!

So EXXO, let's us pilots not take this lying down and DO something about this! In your spare time from job searching, you and your fellow 22 (you guys should network and keep in touch... The XOJET 23, or something like that..) can consider this a fun hobby. My old company realized that the 11 hostages that they had taken were causing more pain than if they had still been there... I would be glad to help you guys out and I am sure that many other of your brother and sister pilots here will, too. Remember, you wouldn't be doing anything illegal to spread nothing other than the truth of the number of pilots TERMINATED, not furloughed, on this board, Getting the XOJET profile started (contact a moderator) here, contacting AirInc, climbto350, flightinfo, *************, etc. You are not organizing a sickout, flooding a toll free line, or libeling the management there; You are just spreading the news about the 23 pilots TERMINATED. It's very important to make sure that this word is used, not layoff, reductioned, downsized,etc. It's like how evil doers soften the words "atrocity" or "genocide" into "ethnic cleansing" (It sounds better and more benign, doesn't it?). Every pilot here knows that there is no reason to terminate 23 pilots for "cause" in a single day out of 122 pilots. What, did they all screw up that day? Were they warned or counseled on doing better? It's pretty obvious to all what happened here.

EXXO, we as pilots cannot let atrocities like this be forgotten. Your fellow pilots and the public need to know, and your fellow victims need their names spoken in reverence. If you are interested, reply to this post, and I will try to PM you or will otherwise contact you. Again, nothing illegal, immoral, or libelous, just the truth... Good luck, EXXO, to you and all our terminated, furloughed, and currently employed brothers and sisters in this 5h1tty industry. Can I get an AMEN here and any other offers of help?

In Unity,

B727DRVR

DMBFAN

AMEN!!!!!!! How could you not be in after reading a post like that!! Very well done B727DRVR!!!!!!

B727DRVR

Thanks DMBFAN,

Let's do something to try to help these fellow pilots out and make things right. It might not work, but at least we tried. All we would be doing was spreading the word about the atrocity... If XOJET does something that way, then they should be proud of it. Oh, and I guess there was that part about sending the cards to the current pilots. The right of every American...

Any more amens here or offers of help? All it takes is spreading the word about the terminations. I don't care if you are 91, 91K, 135, major, regional, cargo, fractional, etc. These are fellow pilots that just got screwed at Christmastime! Merry EFFing Christmas to you from XOJET Management! Tell the van drivers, hotel folks, FBO girls, fellow pilots, and anyone else that will listen. Eventually a Bay Area newspaper or television station will be calling XOJET to find out the truth (Reporter: "So your saying that nearly 20% of your pilots were unsafe, or performing poorly, and you just found that in one day?!" News at 10...). And that truth might just cause enough stir to help these terminated pilots. Thanks in advance to anyone else willing to help out!

In Unity,

B727DRVR

⌐ AV8OR WANNABE

Great posts B727DRVR!