TO ALL NJI PILOTS
URGENT:
The time has come for us to organize a leadership team from within. Several of us have been formulating ideas and options over the past several weeks. It is now time for us to speak with a clear and unified voice.
Actually, I think the time to fight integration was a couple of years ago, but you always have the right to speak and have your opinions known.
Use every available means of communication we have and put the word out, as we will need signed letters of support for the NMB to recognize our effort and guarantee us a seat at the negotiating table. Time is not on our side, as we have 2 years of idleness to make up for.
I'm not a lawyer, just an ordinary line pilot, but my understanding is that only one union can exist at a company per bargaining group. If you didn't want to be represented by the NJASAP, you would have to be declared by the NMB as not being in the same bargaining group as other pilots under the Netjets company. The NJASAP and Netjets company (via the integration agreement) both believe that both NJA and NJI are part of the same group.
Had the NJASAP had to file a single carrier petition, we would be asking the NMB to declare both NJA & NJI pilots as being under the same group (i.e. doing a similar enough job at the same company.) This is where the fight over representation usually occurs, for example Mesa & Freedom, TransStates vs GoJets. Our union was saying we had a strong case to prove this, my opinion was that the board tends to make the "facts" fit with the politics of the administration that appointed them to their position on the NMB.
I think the best way to have stopped the integration was to have another union (or a nonunion company advisory board) already representing the NJI pilots, it would have been one of the strongest arguments the company could have used that the NJA and NJI pilots were not in the same bargaining group. Now it would be a much harder sell, as both the NJASAP and NetJets are both saying that the pilots should be represented by the NJASAP, and they are all NetJets pilots.
Things you need to know:
• There are no NJI line pilots representing your direct interests during this merger. As it stands now, our management will enter into talks with NetJets Senior management
(Bill Olsen, who is a former Union Official) and a group from NJASAP to negotiate the integration of the two pilot groups.
I can't disagree. I really wonder how much more will be agreed to other than the current LOA however. Negotiations are always tit-for-tat, if the company wants something outside what has already been agreed to, they will have to give up something.
Many of the FO NJA pilots (not me) I have talked to want a fence to prevent a NJI FO from taking a spot as a captain in a NJA run airplane even if the NJI fo is more senior. Other NJA pilots (including me) want every NJA captain to be brought up to an equal pay scale as the highest paid captain over at NJI. They see having a less senior pilot on the combined list being paid more that a more senior NJA pilot as a special deal, i.e. "Fab 5 situation." I've heard talk that some NJA pilots would like to fly from any airport, and start and end trips from any airport like the NJI pilots have right now.
Will the company be willing to give up what would be required to get more work rule changes for the NJI pilots? I don't know, but I doubt it....
• NJASAP has a network of lawyers, financial funds, and developed leadership hierarchies to insure their pilots’ interests are protected. We do not.
Once you are part of the union, the union has a duty to fairly represent all people in the bargaining unit. If they don't, you have a right to go to court and force the union to fairly represent you. (See the current situation with US Airways, America West and their new union, the USAPA.)
I remember reading about some lawsuits over the "B" scale wages that were instituted at several airlines. If I remember it correctly, it was ruled that until a pilot is represented by a union (i.e. usually hired) a union has no duty to represent them, which allows things such as a B scale (or in the case of the IBT 1108, the gateway airport system only for new hires.) See the under-the-bus argument below why I don't think it will be an issue.
• If you do nothing and sit on the sideline, you will be working under the rules and be paid a salary negotiated by parties outside of your influence. Your work life as you know it will change and you will have had no say-so in it.
Once you are part of the union, you have the same representation as any other member. You will get the same vote as any of us, and the same rights. As a practical thing, it would be unwise to "throw NJI pilots under the bus" during the transition because they will be able to vote the current union officers out of the union during the next election.
• There is no guarantee than the NJASAP union will not attempt to flush the NJI pilots out of their aircraft at a later date and time.
You will be members then, and the union owes you the same duties and protections as any other union member.
• Our FO’s still do not have a clear and defined right to upgrade in Gulfstream Aircraft.
Your right. You have to hold a G4 captain position to hold a G5 captain position, but a G4 position is bases solely on seniority system wide (like every other aircraft at NJA.) My personal position is that if you had to be an FO in a G4 or G5 first before being a captain in a G4, it would create a permanent company in a company, and would be impossible for any NJA pilot to work there way up to a gulfstream during there career.
The other side of the coin is that if integration occurred tomorrow, the NJI fo's could bid all the NJA captain spots, pushing the next NJA pilot 50 numbers back in his upgrade, and delaying him another year. I see this as just part of the cost up integration. I had breakfast with someone who is just a couple of numbers away from encore + captain, and he was surprised that he could get displaced by NJI fo's, while our captains could not bid G5's, even if more senior based on the time in program provision of the LOA.
• The LOA is only binding until the next LOA is negotiated
(you have no career long guarantee to be seat and pay protected).
Your right. In fact, I would expect that during the next full contract negotiations, the pay scales will be negotiated so all the NJA and NJI pilots work off of the same pay rates. I would expect the union to start off demanding more than the highest paid NJI pilot, as the company has proved that is how much a captain at NetJets should make. Seat protection from G4 captain to G5 captain could go away too, during the next negotiations. (Just like bypass pay went away during the 98 to 05 contracts.)
If it helps, we are several years away from starting negotiations on a new contract however, who knows what the industry will look like then, we may all be fighting to get out of Gulfstreams and into SSBJ's...
• NJASAP leaders are split as to how to integrate NJI pilots. There is still an overwhelming majority of NJA pilots who want a staple and a flush of all NJI pilots system wide.
The LOA covers integration. I can't see either the union or the company deciding to renegotiate the the LOA at this late date, now that it is a living document with the integration announcement" Also, see the "throwing under the bus" argument above.
Contact us at
[email protected] if you are ready to stand up and protect your career. Forward this email to all NJI crews, spread the word, the time has come to protect ourselves. We must carefully analyze our options and take the steps to protect our careers for the long run. There is nothing we can do at this time to stop the inevitable merger, but we can and do have the right to engage ourselves into the process to make sure our voices are heard. Do not let the NJA pilots make you think all is lost. We have a strong cadre of ex-airline pilots who know how to fight this current situation and make it fair for us.
