realityman
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2004
- Posts
- 782
The long and short of all the discussions on all the threads talking about Netjet's current negotiations is this:
We've been through this all before. Exact same thing. Big bad union wants big raises. Company says no. Battle ensues. Same players at the company and within the pilot group running around saying the same things. "Netjets can't afford what we want.", "We'll bankrupt the company.", "No way will clients pay any more for this product.", "Warren will sell us/shut us down if we keep doing what we're doing.". And on and on and on. The chief pilot at the time told me to my face that Netjets couldn't afford what we wanted. The company even went so far as to allow the union leadership to have a look inside "the books" to show there was no money (only a general overview, they flat out refused to allow the union to do a forensic audit).
And when all was said and done and we got most of what we wanted, the company just 6 months later entered bankruptcy, was sold off in parts, WB took a nice tax write off for the whole failed endeavour, the pilots were proven wrong, all the naysayers were out in force with various versions of "I told you so!", and it was proven once and for all that unions only hurt companies.
Oh, wait. Or was it that the company, less than a year after the contract was signed, went on to make record profits (at the time), pilots were happy, the naysayers went suddenly quiet, growth at the company exploded, a whole bunch of people at the other fractionals and even some charter operators "coincidentally" received raises (a couple of which also "coincidentally" matched our new payscales closely), some upper management who were spreading the negative word (starting with Boisture) were gone, and just 2 years later the company was back with an even better offer (financially) at IBB.
I can't predict with 100% certainty how this battle will shake out. But history has shown we have very good chances of prevailing. What will the final CBA look like? I don't know, but I'm as certain as I can be that it won't contain concessions and we'll do okay if not great. The company is making lots of money. Warren isn't going to sell us or shut us down. Like I said, I can't be 100% certain of anything, but we've been through this before with the same players saying the same things. I'm not too worried (sorry about that G4, not trying to be cavalier about it).
Folks like G4 are the product of their environment. It's why I respect his opinions and don't care to resort to insults or name calling. The former NJI folks, back in the day, were treated far superior to NJA pilots, not to mention being paid better. They had a great deal going with RTS, and only saw our union as rocking a boat they were very comfortable in (although it is a little ironic because G4 has come on here and accused me of a cavalier attitude towards my coworkers' future here, yet was part of a group in the past that didn't seem to care one little bit about our future with the company, only worried about themselves, but I digress). I remember during our lat fight when I saw one of our GV's on the ramp in PBI. I was curious what it was like inside, do I asked the F/O who happened to be nearby if I could have a look. He graciously agreed and he and the F/A gave me a nice tour of the cabin. Then I wanted to see the flight deck. I went up and there was an old crotchety captain up there. While admiring things, he took it upon himself to begin chastising me for the union activities and told me all about how we'd wreck the company if we continued. I thanked him for the look and hastily left.
The moral of that story? Just to illustrate the mindset of the former NJI folks and the fact that changing those thought processes takes time, even years after the integration. G4 is comfortable with his job and afraid we'll screw it up. I don't blame him. This kind of fight is scary. But in the end, we'll be okay and end up with a better CBA. Same thing as last time around.
We've been through this all before. Exact same thing. Big bad union wants big raises. Company says no. Battle ensues. Same players at the company and within the pilot group running around saying the same things. "Netjets can't afford what we want.", "We'll bankrupt the company.", "No way will clients pay any more for this product.", "Warren will sell us/shut us down if we keep doing what we're doing.". And on and on and on. The chief pilot at the time told me to my face that Netjets couldn't afford what we wanted. The company even went so far as to allow the union leadership to have a look inside "the books" to show there was no money (only a general overview, they flat out refused to allow the union to do a forensic audit).
And when all was said and done and we got most of what we wanted, the company just 6 months later entered bankruptcy, was sold off in parts, WB took a nice tax write off for the whole failed endeavour, the pilots were proven wrong, all the naysayers were out in force with various versions of "I told you so!", and it was proven once and for all that unions only hurt companies.
Oh, wait. Or was it that the company, less than a year after the contract was signed, went on to make record profits (at the time), pilots were happy, the naysayers went suddenly quiet, growth at the company exploded, a whole bunch of people at the other fractionals and even some charter operators "coincidentally" received raises (a couple of which also "coincidentally" matched our new payscales closely), some upper management who were spreading the negative word (starting with Boisture) were gone, and just 2 years later the company was back with an even better offer (financially) at IBB.
I can't predict with 100% certainty how this battle will shake out. But history has shown we have very good chances of prevailing. What will the final CBA look like? I don't know, but I'm as certain as I can be that it won't contain concessions and we'll do okay if not great. The company is making lots of money. Warren isn't going to sell us or shut us down. Like I said, I can't be 100% certain of anything, but we've been through this before with the same players saying the same things. I'm not too worried (sorry about that G4, not trying to be cavalier about it).
Folks like G4 are the product of their environment. It's why I respect his opinions and don't care to resort to insults or name calling. The former NJI folks, back in the day, were treated far superior to NJA pilots, not to mention being paid better. They had a great deal going with RTS, and only saw our union as rocking a boat they were very comfortable in (although it is a little ironic because G4 has come on here and accused me of a cavalier attitude towards my coworkers' future here, yet was part of a group in the past that didn't seem to care one little bit about our future with the company, only worried about themselves, but I digress). I remember during our lat fight when I saw one of our GV's on the ramp in PBI. I was curious what it was like inside, do I asked the F/O who happened to be nearby if I could have a look. He graciously agreed and he and the F/A gave me a nice tour of the cabin. Then I wanted to see the flight deck. I went up and there was an old crotchety captain up there. While admiring things, he took it upon himself to begin chastising me for the union activities and told me all about how we'd wreck the company if we continued. I thanked him for the look and hastily left.
The moral of that story? Just to illustrate the mindset of the former NJI folks and the fact that changing those thought processes takes time, even years after the integration. G4 is comfortable with his job and afraid we'll screw it up. I don't blame him. This kind of fight is scary. But in the end, we'll be okay and end up with a better CBA. Same thing as last time around.
