JetBlue ALPA drive

[Blue Dude]

but what if it makes the company non-competitive?

Oh, GMAFB. Pilot pay/benefits is a fraction of overall costs, usually about 10% of the total. In major airline terms, it's somewhat less than one cent of CASM. Given that airline CASMs vary a lot more than one cent from airline to airline, it's easy make the case that pilot pay can never be the determining factor in whether or not an airline is cost competitive. You could have double the pilot cost of your competitors and still other factors would swamp the difference. Pilot costs are a factor in competitive cost structures, but they are never make-or-break items. They're just too small for that. Pilots could work for free and only swing costs about 10%.

It is management's job to periodically make the case to the contrary, such as during an economic downturn, force majeure, or other extraordinary circumstance, when every one-hundredth of a penny of CASM might count. Maybe it's true that an all-hands-on-deck attitude might save the company. But it's far more often true that they're just trying to compensate for their own bad decisions and pilot pay is an easy target. They simply over-inflate the pilot's influence on the organization, and make them feel guilty for being paid so much for the job they're doing - the evil twin of "I can't believe they pay me to do this!". But the day-to-day decisions they make - their real job - has a far higher influence on CASM than the cost of pilots. I can't believe you don't realize this already.

 

[Regul8r]

The pay and benefit increases will be achieved very shortly...With ALPA, we're now on the cusp of either a consensual agreement or a release to strike. Either way, we're about to see big improvements in pay, benefits, work rules, and job security. The difference from the in-house union is night and day.

More of that fake-it-till-you-make-it mentality! Hey, I hope it happens...but if it doesn't, ALPA's head will be on a pike. Bottom line...you have little to no control over what the company will agree to.

 

[Flopgut]

Assuming Captain Prater doesn't get reelected, his pension will only be for 20% of earnings. It's 5% for each year served. Not exactly a huge windfall for giving up 4 years of his life to work for his fellow pilots.

Assuming he doesn't get reelected?! I'm praying he doesn't get reelected! As well as speaking to every MEC member I can at CAL and making sure he has ZERO support. Which, I've been told that unless he can pull a rabbitt out of a hat, there won't be any CAL support. Most of us would have been much better off without his "help". And whatever retirement amount he gets is way more than he deserves.

 

[pilotyip]

Oh, GMAFB. Pilot pay/benefits is a fraction of overall costs, usually about 10% of the total. ..............day-to-day decisions they make - their real job - has a far higher influence on CASM than the cost of pilots. I can't believe you don't realize this already.

OK so the union is going to make the company more productive, so the they become more profitable, then those extra earning can be shared with all employees of the company, management, mechanics, dispatchers and pilots. As the airline matures is has an automatic cost increase built into the system, but we want more costs? However what if it makes they non-competitive?

 

[Blue Dude]

Your post makes no sense. Reread my post. Pilot pay, large or small, is a small chunk of the overall cost structure. It is never, cannot be, a make-or-break item in terms of cost competitiveness. Management decisions in all other areas dwarf it by comparison. There are plenty of factors that combine to push pilot pay backwards, but the notion that it alone would make a business non-competitive is not one of them. It is ludicrous on its face.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

OK so the union is going to make the company more productive,

No. The pilots are going to safely fly the jets from point a to b. The company is going to make the company more productive. What is wrong with you?

so the they become more profitable, then those extra earning can be shared with all employees of the company, management, mechanics, dispatchers and pilots. As the airline matures is has an automatic cost increase built into the system, but we want more costs? However what if it makes they non-competitive?

Air Line Pilots do not run Airlines.

 

[pilotyip]

Air Line Pilots do not run Airlines.

but if it isn't run the way they want; they want to change it. Isn't that almost like running the airline?

 

[pilotyip]

Your post makes no sense. Reread my post. Pilot pay, large or small, is a small chunk of the overall cost structure. It is never, cannot be, a make-or-break item in terms of cost competitiveness. Management decisions in all other areas dwarf it by comparison. There are plenty of factors that combine to push pilot pay backwards, but the notion that it alone would make a business non-competitive is not one of them. It is ludicrous on its face.

Still don't understand, you say you have a way to run the company to make it more profitable? Then you can be paid more?

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

but if it isn't run the way they want; they want to change it. Isn't that almost like running the airline?

Air Line Pilots do not run Airlines.

 

[pilotyip]

Air Line Pilots do not run Airlines.

they have run them into the ground