Gemini News

[dc10maniac]

From: Woodward, Sam
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 2:08 PM
To: GAC All Users (Not Crew Members)
Subject: Great News!

Fellow Employees, Great news! Gemini's plan of reorganization was confirmed by the bankruptcy court earlier today. We are now set to complete the plan of reorganization and emerge from bankruptcy during the week beginning July 31st. I will be holding town hall meetings in the next couple of weeks to
provide more details. I would like to express my gratitude to all who
supported us through our reorganization.

Sam A. Woodward
Chairman, President & CEO

 

[jercdevil]

Voted no for the second time on this POS. This is like ground Hog day Rumor is we will be back in Carlye's hands in 18 months.

 

[monyetbesar]

If we are out of BK.. then it is easy for me.. a "NO" vote. I do not like being told the 3% is all the judge would allow, also that we can get on with our lives after emerging from BK and voting...if we are out of BK then we are being snowballed..

 

[LUV2FLYLOUIE]

I VOTED NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! DOES THIS BRING BACK MEMORIES?????LIKE THE RED LETTERS GUYS? LOL

 

[fogrunner]

LIKE THE RED LETTERS GUYS? LOL

I thought PINK was more your style..........

 

[dc10maniac]

Just voted NO.

 

[jercdevil]

Show these idiots were tired of there BS and vote NO

 

[GAC11Flyer]

Who does our MEC work for us or B.J.& Company? Time for a recall. let's get ride of these idiots!

 

[monyetbesar]

A recall? GAC11Flyer, just get in there and do some negotiating. I am voting against the TA, but it is the TA I am deciding on. I have no friggn desire to be on the MEC etc.. so in my case, I will keep voting on the package etc.. as they are presented. GAC11 you may want to get in there and see if you can help these guys or the next batch come up with a better TA etc, I hope you do and would appreciate the effort.

 

[b19]

Our Mec Has Done A Good Job During Bankruptcy

We are still in bankruptcy, our plan was confirmed/approved by the court, but we have not yet exited.

The Judge is in charge, not us, not the company, the Judge and no one else. Lucky for us he is a pilot who likes pilots. The Judge's job first and foremost is to see a company thru bankruptcy if he can, with a plan that he believes will fly and not one that will crash and burn.

This has severly limited what our MEC could accomplish, because it is the Judge that has the final word. Our MEC has done the best that they could with the limitations that the bankruptcy placed on them. That's all any of us can ever do, is do the best we can at the time.

If you are over 50 and in the left seat well that is were you are, if not this TA and bankruptcy plan is an opportunity to see whether the company is going to grow and this is a destination or a tech stop. This contract gives us the time to make that decision.

As for the investment company, well they are smart and in the business of getting a good rate of return on their money. Just like we make decisions on whether or not to stay in a mutual fund because of a likely rate of return so do they. They purchased debt for pennies on the dollar and then did a debt for equity swap in bankruptcy as opposed to a straight purchase. This allowed them to have a lot more control and left them with away out of the deal. If you look closely at the disclosure plan you will see that they can liquidate and still be covered, not losing any of their investment. The bridge loans/bankruptcy financing puts them in a different class and higher priority than general creditors, only upon exit do they become equity holders.

I hope that everyone makes their own decision the same way we do in the cockpit, no emotion just facts and good judgment. Most of all I hope that we all continue to treat each other with the respect that we all deserve. Good luck and good health.

 

[jercdevil]

Move your you soap box on down the road B19. After 3 furloughs 2 LOWP's and 4 years on a payfreeze, I'm done drinking the coolaid. We are an organized workforce and a judge can't decide for us what our contract can and will be.

 

[b19]

I respect you and your experience here. Good luck and good health.

 

[dc10maniac]

We have to stay UNITED to be strong.:uzi:

 

[GAC11Flyer]

Monyet,

I did contributed to the process. Like Jercdevil put it.After 3 furloughs 2 LOWP's and 4 years on a payfreeze, I too am done drinking the cool aid brother!

Let's not forget the letter that P.C. put out a few years ago, as to why we shouldn't vote a union in!

 

[fogrunner]

What was the impetuous to negotiate during the Bankruptcy process? We certainly gained no advantage from it. On the contrary I think the company had more to gain from starting/continuing the process because they could use it as a bargaining position.
It seems to me as though we keep failing "Negotiations 101". Again what is the big rush?

 

[porra]

B19,
If thats the case, and maybe if you are right, why don't we call off the negotiations right now, let the company exit BK and then start the negociations again.
Also I heard, that our MEC has someone else on the side lines that could go in and negotiate for us, but they will not use him...
At the end we could only blame ourselfs for accepting this BS contract if it passes, and I know alot of people will start saying the vary same thing you just said here( because we were ion BK we had no choice but to accept...) thats all BS.
Shame on our MEC for bringing this BS contract to us...what a joke

 

[fogrunner]

B19,

Also I heard, that our MEC has someone else on the side lines that could go in and negotiate for us, but they will not use him...

You referring to Mike B.? I know he is interested in returning to the bargaining table if asked. I know he has expressed an interest in doing this. I think there might be some politics and ego involved preventing him from returning. It would be nice to have a trained negotiator representing us.

 

[dhc8drvr]

I voted no and here is my reasoning:

I and many others are at a crossroads in our career where the return is simply not worth the time and investment. I love flying, and wish to continue, but the unhealthy lifestyle, responsibility and time away demands more. The industry as a whole needs to figure out a way to operate AND have reasonable pay and work rules. As long as we are willing to sell our selves short for mistakes made in a corporate office, we will continue the downward spiral until it just will not be worth it anymore.

In a perfect world I would like to see every ACMI carrier with the same work rules and pay, something we could all live with. Contracts would be awarded based on performance and reliabilty rather than low bid.

Just my thoughts.

 

[porra]

Fogrunner,
The person I heard of is someone else, I don't have the pilot list with me, but I think his name is CT. Mike B. would also be an excellent guy to have there right now. At least we know he would fight for us...

dhc8drvr,
I agree with you, I just hope that there are enough of us to vote no on this rev TA. I hope I'm wrong but talking to some other folks on the road, it looks like this TA might pass.

 

[fogrunner]

All that is needed for it to pass is 50%+1. The MEC is hoping to convince a mere 27 people to change their vote to a yes.

The industry as a whole needs to figure out a way to operate AND have reasonable pay and work rules. As long as we are willing to sell our selves short for mistakes made in a corporate office, we will continue the downward spiral until it just will not be worth it anymore.

You are correct. It is very hard to stand your ground and ask for a decent wage when quite a few of our competitors pay less than us or have lower guarantees for comparable equipment. The regional airlines have their Mesa's undercutting the competition to gain market share and we have some operators we compete against doing the same thing. As long as you have people willing to work for companies that furlough seasonally or pay their 2nd yr FOs $50-55 an hour or a Captain $85 an hour to fly a DC10 or 74 it is going to be an uphill battle.