It's absurd that this was even up for discussion. Until the furloughed are recalled the only topic of conversation should be how to be more efficient and how to get guys back on the line. Period. I don't care who is paying for your stupid jacket. Of course this will be met with the attack dogs defending all things netjets.
This is absolutely stupid. All we can do to bring the furloughed folks back is to do our jobs to the best of our ability. Keep our clients happy, and hope for more business.
Sorry, X, but not everything I talk about centers around the furloughed folks. And judging by the talk amongst most of our pilots, they feel the same. That doesn't in any way mean we've forgotten about them, but really, you expect our ONLY topic of conversation ANYTIME we speak to each other about business should be about the furloughed pilots?!
"Hey pilot X! You hear that the furloughed folks are still furloughed?"
"Yes, pilot Y, I did hear that."
"Shame."
"Yeah, it is."
"Are you giving great service so we can grow the company?"
"Yep. You?"
"Yes. Hopefully we'll get em back as quick as possible."
"So, what should we discuss on our 5-hour transcon?"
"We could discuss the shenanigans the company is pulling right now. Or safety issues that currently affect us. Or about our families."
"Yeah. I suppose we could. But there's a guy on FI who says we shouldn't be concerned about anything else until the furloughed folks are back at work."
"Ummmm, okay. Sooooooo, did you hear that the furloughed folks are still furloughed?"
"Yeah, I did. Shame really."
"yeah, it is."
(Repeat the last three exchanges ad nauseum for the next five hours of flying.)
No, you're absolutely right X, we shouldn't talk about ANYTHING else until those folks are back. (idiot!)
PS- Just FYI, we (the union) have been pointing out to the company for many years how to run things more efficiently. I repeat, MANY YEARS! It was only in RTS's last year or so with us that they listened to anything we had to say. And this new management team? Forget about it! They don't care to hear from us about ANYTHING. So I'd really love to hear what it is you think we should do about it. Your assumption is plain wrong that just because we can discuss other developments in our professional lives means we haven't pursued as many options as possible for our furloughed folks, or that they've vanished form our collective memories. In fact, they're talked about almost every day on our own union board. I'm not sure why we can't discuss other things here or elsewhere.