JetBlue new top of scale pay rate ??

[Blue Dude]

As I see it, they cannot simply bring everyone up to the new 3A scale. The 3A arbitration will set pay scales for the claimants, retroactive to 2007. In a nutshell, the arbitrator is simply correcting the payscale to what it should have been for the claimants had JetBlue complied with the 3A clause as they wrote it. Now, once the payscales are "corrected", any change in the current payscale that is given to newhires, i.e. making them "whole", if not also given to the rest of the pilot group, will trigger another 3A claim.

The contract JetBlue wrote is very clear. Any raise given to new hires gets applied to all payrates and all longevities. Thus, if they give the new hires a raise to bring them up to 3A, they will have to give the same percentage to everyone.

Now, they can try to get around this by making everyone whole, while keeping the first-year pay the same, but they will find it nearly impossible to fill any vacancies with a B-scale for newhires in the upcoming hiring boom. Eventually, they will have to raise pay for newhires...and give the same raise to everyone else per the 3A clause in the employment agreement.

JetBlue has painted themselves in a corner without a paddle...

I think JetBlue can finesse this problem by keeping the current year one rate the same but raising the rates for all other longevities to match the award. Since there are no year one claimants, there would be no year one B-scale. Everyone else on the property would be brought to the same rate going forward. Yes, it would suck being the only pilots not to get a mid-year raise, but they would have unexpectedly higher pay to look forward to from year two on, which shouldn't be that hard a sell. And if year one pay wasn't a deal-breaker for would-be new hires before, the lack of change (but with higher year 2+ pay) wouldn't make the company less attractive, would it? There are no perfect solutions, but this one isn't bad. It would require JetBlue to begin leading on the issue and be proactive, though, and they've shown no sign of doing so. It's become obvious that though they could fix it, they won't until after they're made to.

 

[Blue Dude]

Will the pilots that are eligible for 3A but did not sign to the arbitration be awarded the back pay and interest as well (assuming this is the direction of the arbitrator penalty decision )?

Um, no.

If the 3A eligible pilots, but non-participant, are not brought up to par with those awarded 3A, will those pilots file a new arbitration claim? So will we have a round 2 of 3A?

Too late. Statute of limitations is 6 years. Guess how long ago the 2007 violation was?

 

[coogebeachhotel]

I think JetBlue can finesse this problem by keeping the current year one rate the same but raising the rates for all other longevities to match the award. Since there are no year one claimants, there would be no year one B-scale. Everyone else on the property would be brought to the same rate going forward. Yes, it would suck being the only pilots not to get a mid-year raise, but they would have unexpectedly higher pay to look forward to from year two on, which shouldn't be that hard a sell. And if year one pay wasn't a deal-breaker for would-be new hires before, the lack of change (but with higher year 2+ pay) wouldn't make the company less attractive, would it? There are no perfect solutions, but this one isn't bad. It would require JetBlue to begin leading on the issue and be proactive, though, and they've shown no sign of doing so. It's become obvious that though they could fix it, they won't until after they're made to.

Assuming the BOD signs off..........

 

[coogebeachhotel]

Um, no.



Too late. Statute of limitations is 6 years. Guess how long ago the 2007 violation was?

In New York State this does not apply to contract law.

 

[Blue Dude]

In New York State this does not apply to contract law.

Even contract violations become stale over time. I understood that in NY state that limit was 6 years, but I'll defer to your wisdom.

 

[coogebeachhotel]

6 years from knowledge of breach of contract violation. I would argue that they(Non-3A arbitration group) learned about the contract breach less than 30 days ago when the arbitrator declared that there was a breach.

 

[Flyby1206]

The BOD represents shareholders. Period. Barger works for the BOD. Don't forget this. The interest of pilots is at odds with that of shareholders.

I'm a little late to the thread, but this bears repeating. 3A rates are nice, but getting paid $250/hr for 0 hours of flying doesnt do you much good.

 

[B6Busdriver]

I'm a little late to the thread, but this bears repeating. 3A rates are nice, but getting paid $250/hr for 0 hours of flying doesnt do you much good.

$250 an hour??? Maybe $208, which is not out of line in the industry.

 

[Flyer1015]

So what happened? What's with these Captains and the new higher payrate? Background/details missing. Just a overall in-a-nutshell should suffice...

 

[coogebeachhotel]

The dynamics of a low share price are in play. Neelman and the development bank of Brazil(BNDES) are formulating a plan to purchase JetBlue. And yes this is legal as DN is an US citizen. This information came from inside BNDES yesterday. It caused a rather large spike in share price. If you think about it JetBlue has been making itself attractive for takeover for a period of time. Massive reduction of long-term debt and massive accumulation of cash. Combine these actions with a low share price and you have vultures circling.

What may come. We shall see.