First off, there will be no strike. And if there is, it won't last long. I don't care how much lift is out there to cover our flying, the fact is, our customers don't want it. Do you know what the standard refrain is these days from clients I fly? It's, "I just want what I paid for.". They want THEIR aircraft to show up and fly them. They are tired of getting hosed by Hansell's new program of screwing them over. Far from "acclimating" our clients to being on selloffs, it's pissing them off. If they wanted to be on a chartered flight, they'd simply do it themselves and save a bunch of money. And while they may not care about what we make, or whether our kids can afford college, or how our healthcare is, they DO prefer actual Netjets pilots. The reasons vary from person to person, but it's been born out over and over that overall they really do like us and prefer us.
Realityman, that is all correct .. but it is not complete. The last line may read something like:
However, most owners have an anti-union predisposition and recall being negatively impacted, directly or indirectly, in the past by union activities. This may cause a majority (but not all) owners to relate to what the EMT is going through with regard to the union and may be willing to endure some problems "for the greater good" (as defined by NetJets).
NJAOwner,
I get what you're saying, and even agree with it.
However, i think it may not apply in our case.
I don't think any of our clients are stupid. None of you would be riding in the back of these planes if you were. Why is that important? Because while many, if not most, of you may not exactly be "sympathetic" to union activities, you also know what our current management team has done to our product.
The degradation in service, the lies, the reduction in value of what you're paying for. All coming from management, not the union.
So let me ask you, how long will you, NJAOwner, put up with the crap coming from management during a strike? How many weeks of chartered aircraft will you ride on (all while paying Netjets their premium and your share sits idle) before you complain or leave? How many times will you be asked, or told, to move your departure date (if a strike, there are unlikely to be enough scabs and supplemental lift available to cover Netjet's daily schedule) before it becomes too much? Based on what you've seen in person, and even read anecdotally on these boards, about how things are currently being run what makes you think this management team will be properly prepared to manage a strike? Given all the high-level departures (and firings) of recent, do you think even our own management folks have confidence in how things are going? Remember, we are approaching 3000 pilots again flying for Netjets USA. Even if a few hundred scab, and are willing to work every single day without a break (against FAA regs anyway), it will still take YEARS to train enough pilots to bring this company back to normalcy (no way will there be enough supplemental lift available for that timeframe to keep things going).
Are YOU willing to wait it out for any significant length of time until the union "issues" are resolved?
Yeah, I'm only speculating, but whether any of our clients are on our side or not will be irrelevant. You'd be paying for a service that you won't be getting and being inconvenienced worse than ever during a strike. Even if every single one of you is against us, a whole bunch of letters/phone calls to JH and WB complaining that you want your service restored NOW, so please crush that union and get back to business, will work in our favor.
Additionally, I think many of you may just sell your share and move on during a strike that appears will go on a while. That's not good for the company or the pilots. But ultimately, WB holds all the liability on that one. We pilots can always find another job. It may not be a great one, and we may struggle, but we'll survive. WB will survive too, but it's going to cost him boatloads of money with shares being returned (how'd it work out for him in 2008? And that was still only a small portion of the fleet being returned). And worse, our clients aren't Joe Schmoe airline passengers. I suspect most of you have, or have access to, a team of smart, well-paid, powerful attorneys. Who are you going after if you become really pissed off with Netjets? I doubt it'll be the union. Imagine a whole big bunch of those lawsuits against Netjets.
We don't need you on our side. We just need you pissed off, because you'll be putting the extra pressure we need on management, whether you're on our side or not. Like I said, I doubt many of you will put up with it, especially at Netjet's premium prices, for very long.
Then again, I could be wrong. But this one is a gamble I'm willing to take.
All that being said, I sincerely hope it doesn't come to a strike. It's a bad option all the way around for everyone. And we can finish this quickly if most of our pilots would just follow the rules now.
