Kudos to JetBlue's Pilot Voting Committee!
 

Great points and timing from our PVC, as we head into our comparative "salary" review with management. Here's the summary.

-Profit Sharing: We're at almost 0 w/everyone else near 5%
-Pay Rates: In a narrow body comparison we fall 16% short
-Vacation and Healthcare are lacking. Healthcare costs, passed on to pilots, are way out of proportion to our peer groups.

Everyone will now scream that we've known about these things, but now is the time to act. This is the first time in the company's history that things are swinging the way of labor in this industry.

This is "make or break" for the company. We need to see a meaningful offering. It could come in a variety of areas at different rates, or in a specific area. I believe this is the tipping point for ALPA and for the ranks of the company's mid-level first officers. Without a double digit hourly pay increase, ALPA is a given, and the exodus to DAL/UAL/AA begins.

I think a minimum of 10% will squelch some fires. The company could really sweeten things by combining a pay increase with making changes to vacation and retirement. I think the company has dug it's heels in on the healthcare debate. I don't believe they'll budge there.

The timing of this "brief" is calculated and exact. I still can't figure out how VA pilots are getting a raise and the company has yet to make $1.00? This is real and the time is now.

-Bubs

Simple- VX is desperate. B6 isn't.

JetBlue knows, based on two previous attempts at unionizing, that's a small single digit pay raise will quell 50.1%. While the information sent from the PVC overwhelmingly proves how behind the pilot group is rest assured management is not overly concerned.

10% pay wont cut it, 16% would put us at average.

The question is what strings will be attatched to that? Unlimited codeshare? Eliminate premium pay?

And for the record, PVC = Pilot Values Committee

Define desperate? There is no shortage of pilots who would like to work at VX despite the doomsday painted here on APC forums. They maintain the highest published minimum requirements right now for any US carrier (ATP, 4000 Total, 1000TPIC preferred). They could easily lower it to 3000 total ifthey had to and a flood of applicants would come. Even with the current requirements, there is no shortage if applications on file.

As for healthcare, it is a huge deal. A couple pilots I know at Jetblue have a pretty bad deal. I'm maxed on my deductible and now pay 10% while the insurance covers 90. In a similar scenario, one Jetblue friend of mine said he's on a 20% split 80% insurance. That adds up big time! Our max is 6,000 out of pocket. I think my friend said 12,000 out of pocket for him but that's hard to believe even by JetBlue standards.

You better believe it. Jetblue Management is leading the way to the bottom.
Max out of pocket+ insurance premiums for the year ranges from $8505-$14520 depending on which sucky plan you choose!
But hey, we are building our new international gates at T5i out of cash on hand.. can't afford to take care of our crew members and do that too dontcha know!

This is what some of us have been preaching for sometime. Welcome to reality. All the carriers that have better pay and benefits don't live under the (dictatorial) Direct Relationship. By the way it's the Pilot Values Committee, better known as the Student Council. JetBlue has been spinning and delaying proper compensation and it works with you hook, line, and sinker.

Yeah, this doesn't mean much. You may get a $10/hr raise and that's it. PVC can jump up and down (for the first time in 12 years,) and the ELT can and will continue to ignore them.

I must have the "union vote" on my mind when I wrote Voting instead of Values. My bust.

It was a very well put together presentation by the PVC. My opinion is...if JetBlue management doesn't meet industry average as a minimum, in all of the categories presented, it will put all of the ALPA fence sitters over the edge.

They need to act, they need to act now and it needs to be substantial. Otherwise ALPA will be on the property in no time at all. Oh...and pilot retention on the bottom half of the seniority list will be abysmal as everybody takes their A320/E190 training, experience and hours to the legacies as thier hiring/retirements ramp up.