Earlier this evening, on the Flight Options company board, one of our junior SIC's submitted a post with a couple of interesting questions. I did not feel free to answer them on the company board for fear of retaliation by FLOPS mgt, so I am posting my answers here in the hope that he and others will read them.
First question:"Did we get screwed by by the NMB notification coming now?" (he was referring to today's company email that due to the upcoming union vote, we're not getting the raise that mgt was promising us on the 31st)
Answer: Welcome to the way FLOPS does business. There was NEVER any intention on their part to give us ANYTHING. Mgt has known since before Christmas that the union would be filing with the NMB in early Jan. (it was publicly announced on this board and in other places). That's why we got that email saying that they "needed more time" to work on our benefits package and extended the rollout date 'till Jan. 31. If FLOPS mgt wanted to give us industry standard wages, they could have done it the same day as Citation Shares, or any time since then. In a nutshell, this answer is NO.
Second question: "Would it not have made more sense to wait until the revised compensation and domicile policy came out by the end of January?"
Answer: If the union would have waited until the end of Jan, then mgt. would have decided that they "needed more time" to work out the details and extended the rollout date to Feb. 30. And so on. And so on.
Last question: "I have concerns that if the union gets voted in that it will take years before anything changes (4 years for Netjets). What motivation will the company have at that point?
Answer: What motivation will the company have to change things for the better if the union vote vote fails and the union threat goes away? Anthony, I know you have only been here about 3 months, so you haven't gotten the chance to experience the screwing that the rest of us have gotten over the past 2 years, but I tell you sincerely, if the union threat goes away, we aint seen nothin yet!!
You are right, it may take a long time to get our first contract put together and signed, but now that we are in the "laboratory period" (as Mr Tyler called it) they can't take anything more away, either.
If anyone reading this post knows Anthony M. at FLOPS, would you please tell him about this thread? And Anthony, if you read this, I hope it helps you to understand our situation. I wish you the best of luck in your decision.
the Rat
First question:"Did we get screwed by by the NMB notification coming now?" (he was referring to today's company email that due to the upcoming union vote, we're not getting the raise that mgt was promising us on the 31st)
Answer: Welcome to the way FLOPS does business. There was NEVER any intention on their part to give us ANYTHING. Mgt has known since before Christmas that the union would be filing with the NMB in early Jan. (it was publicly announced on this board and in other places). That's why we got that email saying that they "needed more time" to work on our benefits package and extended the rollout date 'till Jan. 31. If FLOPS mgt wanted to give us industry standard wages, they could have done it the same day as Citation Shares, or any time since then. In a nutshell, this answer is NO.
Second question: "Would it not have made more sense to wait until the revised compensation and domicile policy came out by the end of January?"
Answer: If the union would have waited until the end of Jan, then mgt. would have decided that they "needed more time" to work out the details and extended the rollout date to Feb. 30. And so on. And so on.
Last question: "I have concerns that if the union gets voted in that it will take years before anything changes (4 years for Netjets). What motivation will the company have at that point?
Answer: What motivation will the company have to change things for the better if the union vote vote fails and the union threat goes away? Anthony, I know you have only been here about 3 months, so you haven't gotten the chance to experience the screwing that the rest of us have gotten over the past 2 years, but I tell you sincerely, if the union threat goes away, we aint seen nothin yet!!
You are right, it may take a long time to get our first contract put together and signed, but now that we are in the "laboratory period" (as Mr Tyler called it) they can't take anything more away, either.
If anyone reading this post knows Anthony M. at FLOPS, would you please tell him about this thread? And Anthony, if you read this, I hope it helps you to understand our situation. I wish you the best of luck in your decision.
the Rat
