Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Friendliest aviation Ccmmunity on the web
  • Modern site for PC's, Phones, Tablets - no 3rd party apps required
  • Ask questions, help others, promote aviation
  • Share the passion for aviation
  • Invite everyone to Flightinfo.com and let's have fun

Is Uncle Worse Than Sh**inga?

Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Modern secure site, no 3rd party apps required
  • Invite your friends
  • Share the passion of aviation
  • Friendliest aviation community on the web
1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
2 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
3 EASTERN DIVISION
4 THOMAS BOWDEN, WILLIAM BRUNET,
5 THOMAS JETER, WILLIAM TUMLIN,
6 and DAVID YEAGER,
7 Plaintiffs,
8 vs. Case No.
9 FLIGHT OPTIONS, L.L.C., 02-CV-1768
10 Defendant. Judge Nugent
11 - - - - -
12 Deposition of KENNETH C. RICCI, taken as if
13 upon cross-examination before Lynn A. Konitsky,
14 a Certified Realtime Reporter and Notary Public
15 within and for the State of Ohio, at the offices
16 of Gallagher, Sharp, Fulton and Norman, 1501
17 Euclid Avenue, Seventh Floor Bulkley Building,
18 Cleveland, Ohio, at 10:10 a.m. on Tuesday,
19 September 9, 2003, pursuant to notice and/or
20 agreement of counsel, on behalf of the Plaintiffs
21 in this cause.




3 Q. What about Mr. Brunet, do you recall him from
4 indoc?
5 A. Uhm-hum, yes, I do.
6 Q. What do you recall -- did you speak with
7 Mr. Brunet in the indoc?
8 A. Probably.
9 Q. Do you have a specific recollection of speaking
10 to him?
11 A. I don't have a specific recollection of what he
12 asked or didn't ask at indoc.
13 Q. What do you recall about Mr. Brunet in indoc?
14 A. Body language.
15 Q. What body language?
16 A. Well, it's body language because it's hard to
17 describe, but I think after doing as many indoc
18 classes as I've done and, you know, clearly they
19 number in the hundreds, I would often -- you
20 could often tell, from looking at someone,
21 whether they were engaged, whether they were a
22 doubting Thomas, you know, or whether they were
23 still trying to decide what they really believed.
24 Mr. Brunet was one of those people that you
25 could just tell from his body language, didn't
1 believe anything that was being said.
2 Q. And how did you respond to your interpretation of
3 his body language?
4 A. Well, this would happen often at indocs, there
5 were many indoc classes I would leave and I would
6 tell Mr. Sullivan or Mr. Herzberg or Mr. Salata,
7 that I don't think this person should be here.
8 And I can tell you that probably there were ten
9 or twelve people a year who I would pick out of
10 indoc who I'd say, you know, rescind their
11 employment.
12 Q. Based on body language?
13 A. Absolutely.
14 I had people that would fall asleep.
 
This guy deserves the worst union he can get.

Yes pilot yip . I will meet you and tell you things that will make your head spin. This ricci guy makes up charges and fires people . His day in federal court is coming . He falsely wrote up tons of people . You challenge his write ups and he fires you . Folks if you don't vote a union at flex we are in trouble . After 18 years I'm really scared .
 
Last edited:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
EASTERN DIVISION
THOMAS BOWDEN, WILLIAM BRUNET,
THOMAS JETER, WILLIAM TUMLIN,
and DAVID YEAGER,
Plaintiffs,
vs. Case No.
FLIGHT OPTIONS, L.L.C., 02-CV-1768
Defendant. Judge Nugent
- - - - -
Deposition of KENNETH C. RICCI, taken as if
upon cross-examination before Lynn A. Konitsky,
a Certified Realtime Reporter and Notary Public
within and for the State of Ohio, at the offices
of Gallagher, Sharp, Fulton and Norman, 1501
Euclid Avenue, Seventh Floor Bulkley Building,
Cleveland, Ohio, at 10:10 a.m. on Tuesday,
September 9, 2003, pursuant to notice and/or
agreement of counsel, on behalf of the Plaintiffs
in this cause.

Q. Were there discussions of the pilot groups during
the course of these negotiations?
A. Yes.
Q. What were those discussions?
A. A discussion about how seniority would integrate,
a discussion about the union that was being
organized at Travel Air. We did extensive
comparisons of the salary structures between the
two groups to attempt to understand what the
ultimate cost structure would be of putting those
two groups together.
Q. When was the union-organizing drive among the
Travel Air pilots first mentioned in these
discussions?
A. I don't know at what meeting it was first
discussed, but early on, because once we began to
look at this, we would look at the posting boards
on the Internet and we could see the activity.
I believe, even at some point in time, the
teamsters had a page on their website that talked
about the unionization at Travel Air, so we were
concerned about what the implications of that
would be for, to bring the two companies
together.
Q. And were the Flight Options managers referring to
those outlets in order to gather that
information, that is the Internet sites you
mentioned?
A. By managers, I was looking at them.
Q. You were?
A. Sure, yes.
Q. This was during the course of the negotiations
over a potential merger?
A. Yes, because I think we were concerned that if we
were going to merge with a company that was going
to ferret a union, it could considerably change
our cost structure, number one.
Number two, as I mentioned to you earlier in
the deposition, I had no desire to run that type
of company, to be involved in that kind of
management.
Q. And you looked at an Internet message board where
pilots could post messages, do you recall that?
A. Yeah, there was that. I mean, I would
frequently, there are Internet Web boards where
pilots, you can look up NetJets, you can look up
Flex Jet, there are boards on all those companies
and I would read them. I didn't just start
reading them when we started talking to Raytheon,
I was keeping abreast of my competition
throughout all the life of Flight Options. So I
would regularly, you know, see what was going on
at my competition and whether or not there was a
strategic advantage to be gained.
Q. And these pilot message boards was one of the
methods you used to gather that information?
A. Yes. There were also, some of our competitors
also had 800 numbers that their pilots would call
in, and I would listen to those sometimes.
Q. In looking at the RTA Internet message board, do
you recall in the fall/winter of 2001 during the
period of the merger discussions, do you recall
seeing messages on the board about the union?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you recall what the extent of those, what the
substance of some of those messages were?
A. I don't recall the specific substance of
messages, you know, call it union chatter about
why, you know, people were discussing why they
should have a union, they were discussing who
could be trusted and who couldn't be trusted at
RTA.
You're talking about Raytheon, not Flex Jet
or something, correct?
Q. Right. Raytheon.
A. About who the people in management were that they
liked or didn't like and, you know, I think we
were just gaining intelligence and we didn't want
to make, we didn't want to make a bad deal
either.
Q. And you recall messages on there that were pro
union?
A. Yes.
Q. Can you recall any persons who were posting on
that message board?
A. Well, there came a time, after the deal was
announced, where I paid a lot more attention to
the message board than I did before. So if
you're asking me before the merger, you know,
there was somebody called Merlin who was, I
believe, was just a fictitious name who was
probably the most, you know, vehement in terms of
their positioning.
But once the deal was announced -- and
remember that by the time we had signed the
letter, the cards were already out, so this had
progressed from chatter on an Internet board to a
formalized organizing effort, and so it required
a lot of my attention from the time we announced
the letter of intent, to get my views out as to
how you run a company and to explain to the
incoming Raytheon pilots what life would be like,
and so I spent a lot more time, after the letter
of intent, seeing who was on the Web board, names
and so on.
Q. And that letter of intent was announced when?
A. I don't remember the exact date, December 20th
seems to ring a bell.
Q. Of 2001?
A. Yes.
 
You say potato. I say management thuggery!
If you had good leadership, someone who was looking out for you none of this would be taking place. I think of managment as the guys in accounting who pay the bills, the guys in ops who comply with the regs and marketing guys who sell product. Simple day to day functions that make it possible for a company to operate.
 

Latest resources

Back
Top