NJA TA Update

[jtf]

Don't settle for any of that profit sharing crap that they are offering after proving to you already that they "cook the books" for their own purposes. How much pure profit do you think Marquis Jets or whatever it is called is bringing the company? That money is made directly off of Netjets without going directly into Netjets- huge profits that will never be shared in any profit sharing scam that they offer you. From what I've heard you will be voting on a new MEC soon with people who have held the position at airlines and might have a bit more experience negotiating with management for better contracts. I wouldn't endorse anything now until you have an MEC who will put the screws to management and make them give you what you have earned- an industry leading contract for an industry leading company. They won't offer you anything worthwhile unless there is some fear of repercussions- i.e. strike or at least a big enough impass in negotiations to put out a strike vote and then start the cool down period to an actual strike. Does anyone honestly believe the company would ever allow a strike to happen? Some tougher negotiations are a must since the company doesn't really have any incentive to give anything meaningful without the threat of a strike. If they aren't afraid of having to pay retro pay they will drag it out forever since it costs them so much less to do so rather that agree to even a crappy raise. They are using accounting procedures to flat out lie to you all and try to scare you into a yes vote. Would they be growing and getting approved to that many new airplanes if they weren't making money?

 

[jobear]

Heck your in the Teamsters that ought to scare the crapola outta the companies nego. team. Have a couple of extras from the Sopranos show up for the next meeting.
Vote your consicious and don't settle for less, I may even apply if you guys/gals get a good contract .
Like Griz said I wasn't dropped on ME head!

Have a great one...or two
Jobear
Where's my pants?

 

[DesertFalcon]

For those that are interested, the company and MEC reached a deal a couple of hrs ago. Don't know what the details are yet, just have to wait. One thing that was mentioned in the e-mail was no more training contracts and a 5 to 25,000 signing bonus depending on yrs of service.

I wonder what the new starting pay will be?

 

[Lear70]

5 year CA pay between $75k and $92k?

Hell, I'm at a regional on 3rd year CA pay with 14-16 days off per month and I make $72k!!

And "Profit-sharing"? YGBSM! I'm kind of glad I chose the blue pill when offered a job there back in '01...

Good luck to all of you - the "no" vote is a scary one but at least one that you can live with and I'm sure they'll come back with at least one more T.A. before you're released.

p.s. Griz, did you ever do any recruiting at the AIR, Inc seminars in 2001 - Jan DFW maybe?

 

[flx757]

http://www.fracpilot.com/videos/cowbell.wmv

Mucho gracias amigo....

 

[x402]

Starting pay, let's see, one of the highlights of the anouncement was "no training contracts." So I suppose that starting pay will drop in order to recoup those costs. The company is almost broke according to Bill Boister etal, and our MEC believes him.

I think a new FO should expect at least 22k, plus all those 'kick ass contract improvements.'

 

[FracCapt]

I hope there us enough unity there that if you guys don't get AT LEAST a 75%+ raise, you vote the TA down. Honestly, I don't believe that even a 75% raise is realistic - but time will tell. I really hope you guys get all you hope for, and set a new industry standard....God knows you have been below industry standard long enough, and deserve to make up for that.

I hope that when you guys find out specifics(as far as pay and retro), you can let the rest of us in the fractional industry know. This will make a MAJOR impact on whether or not those of us at FLOPS vote in the IBT or not. I think many that are "on the fence" right now are waiting to see what happens with your contract to decide whether or not the IBT is a viable option.

 

[Fozzy]

After reading the letter from Don, I am convinced that Warren has bought the entire IBT. From Hoffa on down. This is just crap. WHO DOES DON WORK FOR? Why is he selling this POS TA. He comes to a dozen meetings and says that is all they can do?!? Are you serious? Is that what we get for 2 MILLION a year???


$2,000,000/year

This is criminal. Hey Frac guys, go in house. Tell the IBT to stick it because of the job they did over at NJA!

Want to read DT's letter? Here ya go.
-------------------------------------------
August 27, 2004

To: The NetJets Pilots

\From: Don Treichler, Director, Teamsters Airline Division

Subject: Tentative Agreement

In the near future, you will receive a copy of the tentative agreement
(TA) achieved this week. The Agreement concludes many months of
frustrating and tedious efforts to satisfy pilot interests. We understand
that not everyone will be happy with this or any agreement, no matter how
many improvements. This in large part results from the expectation,
fueled by past company comments, that significantly higher pay would be
offered.

This TA has many improvements over the old one. This includes wages,
work rules, and benefits across the board. It provides short and
long-term disability, legal protection for FAR violations, a shift to seven
and seven, and increased medical premium allocations, to name a few.
There is a substantial wage increase, albeit not as sizeable as that
envisioned by many of the members, your Committee, or the Union. The TA
does provide sizeable signing bonuses varying between $5,000 and $25,000
based on seniority.

In order to determine management’s ability to both pay and meet the
conditions of the proposed Agreement, the Airline Division brought in
staff from the IBT Research Department, the former Chief Economist of the
IBT and now a consultant, and a nationally known outside counsel. These
individuals, along with the Committee, the Local Union, the Local
Union’s outside counsel, and I examined the company’s financials to
determine whether the pilot’s expectations could be met. In some cases the
answer was yes, and in some cases it was no.

The bargaining participants were aware that expectations varied, but
that all were high. Some pilots insisted they needed wage increases as
high as $250,000 per year or greater. More common was the stated intent
that a fifth year pilot should achieve the $100,000 annual level.

This brought into play the company’s ability to pay. It was the
conclusion of the Union participants that the company could not reach and
sustain such a wage scale level. This is due to a number of reasons.
These reasons include: the expenses associated with the ad hoc nature of
the fractional business; the slow down of aircraft sales (proportional
to past sales) attributable to the general economy and the state of the
aviation industry; and the structure of this company versus its
competitors; i.e., others are subsidiaries of aircraft producers who can
better write off certain expenses. NetJets offsets this partially by its
dominating market share.

Some who contacted us indicated they believed that wage demands should
be met irrespective of the long-term effect it may have on the company.
The Airline Division does not share this view, since we have a legal
requirement to represent you in the most responsible way. Consequently,
we pursued a settlement that we believed could be sustained by the
company over the long-term. That does not mean that the company can
continue business as usual without correcting wasteful procedures and
policies that were characteristic of past operations.

We all are aware of the relatively recent management change at NetJets.
Until this occurred, there was no implication conveyed of any existing
problems in reaching the various bargaining goals. Once the new
management reviewed its financial posture and forecast, it indicated that it
could not meet the goals previously deemed possible.

Reaching an impasse, and hence a release, is the other side of the
equation. The White House openly states its opposition to any form of
self-help. Of the National Mediation Board’s (NMB’s) three members, two
are republican. Board members are presidential appointees. Further,
your TA is the richest processed by the NMB in recent history. Bluntly
put, recess is a more likely option than a proffer (offer to arbitrate)
and the subsequent release associated with it.

This leads us to now. As previously indicated, the package you receive
will represent significant improvements. You must decide whether your
interests are met overall by this TA package.

The Committee, the Local Union, and the Airline Division, taken as a
whole, believe that a vote to accept is in the pilots’ best interests.
We therefore recommend acceptance of the TA. This decision, however, is
one that only you can make and that is why the Teamsters are democratic
when it comes to contract ratification.

Fraternally,


Don Treichler
Director, Teamsters Airline Division

---------------------------------

Don, go back under your rock, we don't need you anymore. So long IBT, Local 284. My bag tags and pin will be returned in 2 weeks at the pizza meeting. I am going to print my own bags tags.

 

[beytzim]

Our MEC has been bought by Shamtulli. But here's the REALLY scary part. There are enough dipsh*ts over here that are going to vote YES. I've already met 3 in last 2 days. These guys are fed up in waiting and truly believe that this is the best contract we can get. May God have mercy on their souls (cause I won't!).

 

[Daveflier]

"Our MEC has been bought by Shamtulli. But here's the REALLY scary part. There are enough dipsh*ts over here that are going to vote YES. I've already met 3 in last 2 days. These guys are fed up in waiting and truly believe that this is the best contract we can get. May God have mercy on their souls (cause I won't!)."

Lack of beytzim...........................

 

[Intreped1]

test test test test

test test test test

 

[Xdriver]

This baby is going down in flames!! Insult is a nice word for the pay they took 3 yrs to get. Someone really needs to tell Nutjets we just wont work for this anymore. Don't you just love labor relations in aviation.

 

[On Your Six]

Part 91 Salary Comparison

Just for argument's sake, what do Part 91 CE750, Excel and Hawker 800XP FOs and Captain's make on an annual basis (average salary and not chief pilot position)?

How much lower (quantified) is the new TA vs. these average salaries for the same positions?

 

[Xdriver]

I can only speak of the X

Depends on where in the US the job is BUT starting capt wage is 95-140K
Contract work is paid out at 750-1000 a day. I do contract work now for 800 a day + expense's unless it international then its 1000.00 a day. Bottom line is what Netjets is wanting to pay is so not even on the NBAA radar its a joke. The X at netjets goes everywhere ,Hawaii to Europe to South America and everywhere else in between. We should get paid a fair wage and 69K at year 5 is not a fair wage sorry.

 

[Xdriver]

800 is SIC or PIC just so there is an ass in the seat ! ! I tend to fly PIC

 

[FracCapt]

You forgot to say the $800/day is SIC duties isnt it?

Any decent contract pilot charges the same rate for PIC and SIC. If you are PIC qualified but charge less for SIC duties, you are doing yourself - and the entire contract industry - an injustice. Companies that hire you to fly contract hire for your EXPERIENCE, not the seat you sit in...at least, that's the way I always did it, and had no shortage of work.

 

[wingnutt]

800 a day...have y'all ever seen an actual quote from NetJets for a europe trip on the X???

 

[miles otoole]

This baby is going down in flames!!

Actually it appears that revenue and profits are about to go up. Lower expenses for the owners means more business which means growth. Bottom line, great for the shareholders.

 

[WillieG]

Miles - I don't know where you get your information from. Is Warren a relative of yours? You'll never know what the profit is in this company or have any control over any kind of profit sharing plan. It's us vs them and it will always be. Why do you think it's a privately held company. BH will never disclose anything about NJ as would happen if the company were public.

 

[Schrode]

NetJets is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. No shareholders. We are the hog of the Aviation Division that keeps other companies within Berkshire Hathaway in the Black. Why do you think we do 99% of our training and recurrent at FSI? Why do we spend money on semi annual recurrents and type ratings on SIC's?

The business plan of NetJets is to only get big, make more aircraft sales, maintenance reserves (investment capital), and train pilots. Not to make a profit. Profit means you pay taxes and pilots. They wouldn't want that.

Yes, I am a little bitter right now.