Ok, even you are not dumb enough to believe this one.
So, the phone call from management this post is suggesting went like this:
Management: Hey, we want you to make sure that Capt ______ fails his checkride.
Instructor: How can I make sure someone fail their checkride, either they meet the standard, or they don't.
Management: We want you to create some impossible set up so there is no way they can pass.
Instructor: Checkrides are governed by the ATP PTS. Not sure what scenario you are implying, but everyone who is a professional pilot knows what to expect on their checkride. Plus, we don't modify our scenarios based on the whim of management.
Management: We want this guy gone, so make it happen!
Instructor: Even if I agreed top this, which I never would, how are we going to convince the other pilot in the simulator to go along with this?
Management: Oh crap, forgot about that. Guess we better make sure we fire him also.
I am not familiar with the glassdoor website, but I am sure anyone (including a FO pilot wanting to stir up a mess) could post anything on it.
We are a right to work company, if management wanted to get someone fired, they would just do it. Why would they need to use the training department to accomplish what they could do alone?
You mean it goes like this TWA
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Four pilots are suing their employer,
Flight Options, LLC, for firing them in retaliation for their union organizing
activities. They filed a motion for summary judgment against the company in
the Federal District Court in Cleveland, Ohio. The case is Thomas Bowden, et
al. vs. Flight Options, LLC, Case No. 02-1768.
Their employer, following the merger of Flight Options and Raytheon Travel
Air in March 2002, fired the pilots, Thomas Bowden, William Brunet, Thomas
Jeter and William Tumlin. Flight Options is now majority-owned by a Raytheon
subsidiary. The pilots were members of the Raytheon Travel Air union
organizing committee that attempted to unionize the pilots of RTA with the
Teamsters through a campaign that resulted in an election before the National
Mediation Board in January 2002.
"These pilots were leaders in the Teamsters union effort at Raytheon
Travel Air," said Don Treichler, Director of the Teamsters Airline Division.
"They are all skilled, veteran pilots. Their professionalism cannot be
disputed. Flight Options' reasons for firing them are completely without
merit. Discovery in the case has confirmed what we knew -- that these skilled
professionals were fired because they supported the union at Travel Air."
Discovery in the litigation revealed that Flight Options targeted the
pilots for firing. An e-mail circulated among its managers in March 2002
shows them scheming to manufacture grounds for terminating the plaintiffs and
stating that they needed to change the reasons for firing Bowden because he
had not yet attended an indoctrination session at Flight Options headquarters.
Bowden was not terminated until late June 2002 and the alleged grounds for
discharge did not occur until months after the March 2002 e-mail.
Discovery also uncovered a blacklist of pilots compiled by a Flight
Options manager on which the plaintiffs' names were marked. Another Flight
Options manager who had been a manager at Travel Air testified that the
employer asked Travel Air managers to identify troublemakers among the Travel
Air pilots and that the plaintiffs' names were marked on that blacklist.
Evidence shows that former Flight Options CEO Kenn Ricci engaged in a
concerted anti-union campaign to defeat the Travel Air union election. The
campaign involved intelligence gathered on the Teamster organizing effort;
Ricci's monitoring of pilot Internet communications regarding the union;
interrogation by Ricci of pilots about their opinions on the union; and
threads by Ricci regarding what would happen if the union were voted in.
Ricci admitted in a deposition that his anti-union campaign occupied most of
his time following the December 2001 announcement of the merger and leading up
to the January 17, 2002 ballot count.
Evidence also shows Ricci made repeated statements that it was legal for
him to fire pilots for organizing with a union. An August 2002 e-mail message
by Ricci stated that Flight Options had a policy against hiring pilots from
unionized carriers.
In March 2002, Ricci threatened the pilot who served as the telephone
hotline "Voice of the Union" during the RTA union election that he should not
engage in organizing activity at Flight Options. That pilot left Flight
Options to take a position at Teamster-represented NetJets. The evidence
revealed clearly that Flight Options knew the plaintiffs were the union
activists among the Travel Air pilots and that Flight Options was hostile to
union supporters and retaliated against them.
Flight Options asserted unwarranted grounds for the discharge of the
pilots. Management was unable to produce a single manager who could testify
to the conduct of Jeter and Tumlin that allegedly led to their firing. Flight
Options managers contradicted themselves as to the reasons for Brunet and
Bowden's terminations. Two Flight Options managers denied that Brunet engaged
in the conduct during an indoctrination session for which he was allegedly
fired. Ricci testified that he fired Brunet for "bad body language," but
never discussed the matter with Brunet. Flight Options asserted four
different stories as to why they fired Bowden -- stories which proved untrue.
The Flight Options e-mail targeting Bowden for termination months prior to any
of these alleged events shows that the company sought any pretext to fire him.
"It is unusual for plaintiffs to seek summary judgment in a lawsuit but
here the evidence is so strong that we think it demands judgment in favor of
the plaintiffs," said the plaintiffs' attorney, William Wilder of Baptiste &
Wilder, P.C. in Washington, D.C.
Flight Options will have until October 15, 2003 to file its response to
the plaintiffs' motion. The court will likely rule on the motion in November
2003. Trial is currently set for early December 2003 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Founded in August 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is
celebrating its 100-year anniversary as a representative and advocate for
working families.
SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters
