Hang,

I hope there are enough guys that are willing to vote yes. Crossing fingers here.

 

Al,
I would love to know your background. What gives you the right to judge anyone. Jetblue pilots are a great bunch of pilots, many came from failed airlines, or are currrently on a furlough. I was an ALPA member for over six years. When I was losing my job, ALPA did not feed my family or pay my mortgage. Jetblue offered me a job and it has been great. I would appreciate it if you would stop judging JB pilots and mind your own business.

 

This thread is pretty rotten now and ought to be closed. This vote has been underway for two weeks. There are no posts here that are going to change minds now. If anything, positions on either side have been hardened. Now its just mud slinging.

 

My background is in management, as is my major. I understand what airline management are charged with and the "psychology" they use to keep direct operating costs down.

I'm absolutely sure most of the B6 pilots are great guys. More to the point, I'm absolutely sure they "deserve" better.......yesterday!

Too bad a few, like you, have a troubled past and think any port in a storm is "great", as you put it. Easy prey!

I'm curious. What is "great" about a job over there with "below average pay?"

Do "pats on the back or words of thanks" feed your family or pay your mortgage?


FYI, nobody cares about ALPA!


AL

 

Entire post is very well said, Herk, and exactly right. This doesn't only apply to your pilots, but pilots at all airlines whether they have unions or not.

Some here have heartburn about IBT or ALPA, but if they really want to find the best person who can make their union or pilot group better, all they have to do is look in a mirror.

Unions are like airplanes. None are perfect, but you do the best you can with what you have.

 

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.

 

Funny how certain firm's interviews are geared toward ensuring you are predisposed to their "norms" and "values". They're not interested testing your knowledge or ability.

Why?

They want to make sure you're a nice guy who won't come and make waves. They want to make sure you're a pushover!

It does work. Many firms are focused on this approach. It's not unique to any firm and it's not new!

Management then have two faces;

The "can't do" face is for the employees. The "can do" face is for the boardroom. They would not dare present anything other than a "can do" approach there.


The "can't do" face comes to employees with a smile and a friendly tone. It "constantly" reminds employees of tough times, hardships among some of the (weaker) firms in the industry, costly external and internal variables, and a patronizing reminder that everyone is fortunate to have a job. Words of appreciation and thanks are constanly thrown around but improvements to conditions are rare. Management acts as a wolf in sheep's clothing in order to buy time. Buying time saves money.

Management do not overstate negatives in the same light in the boardroom. They are not trying to fool anyone there. They are there to give assurances that they can deliver.



AL

 

Well said AL

 

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.

 

I've been called worse. You are entitled to your opinions, but I stated earlier that I could be proved wrong in my optimistic assumptions. Only time will tell. I do not want to work for a carrier where pilots resort to intentionally taxiing slow, running the APU for an entire flight and other childish antics to make a point. We are trying to build something different here, and oh, by the way, I know a few AA pilots here who will NOT go back if recalled. JetBlue is barely 10 years old, and we are trying to find ways to make money so that this place will remain in business and out of bankruptcy. In my opinion, a union will not do much for us right now.

And, no, not Riddle. Check my screen name for help with answering your question about where I got my degree.