Heavy Set said:
Dude, NJA pilots are paid far less than their counterparts in the corporate world (same aircraft types) and yet they fly A LOT more on average. Can you refute that?
Heavy - no, I cant refute that. But we all know, and its been beat to death on this board, that there are clear, fundamental differences between the corporate jobs and fractional. Staffing ratios for one, schedules for another....
The same logic that says you shouldnt compare us to the airlines says that you shouldnt compare us to the corporate world. The real question is how will this contract compare against the other fractionals?
Heavy Set said:
Schedule or no-schedule, NJA pilots are basically the primary interfaces with your customers. Surprising (or not) that you would treat your "front line" employees with such acrimony when their service is SO CRITICAL to your customer-service ethic... It doesn't make a lot of sense and it is extremely short-sighted. Do you find this level of acrimony between SWA management and pilots? Nope.
Heavy - you're correct - the pilots are the primary interface with the owners and their service & attitude is critical to the success of the product. I know many of our pilots and personally have a lot of respect for the job they do. 95% of our pilots are top-notch professionals and I support them in asking for an industry leading wage. (Fractional industry) Read my previous posts and you'll see that I've stated this numerous times.
What I do not agree with is the tactics that are being employed to try and achieve some of these goals. I find them heavy handed and malicious. While the fight for fair pay is respectable, it does not give the union, or pilots on this board, license to undermine the product the owners receive, slander Mr. Santulli or his duly appointed executives, and generally trash what is a very good company.
Heavy Set said:
It's clear that NJA management has squandered a lot of its cash on inefficiency and cross-subsidization of other divisions (Netjets Europe, NJME, etc.). It's time to INVEST in your pilot group in order to bolster morale and actually improve customer service.
I will be the first to tell you that there is inefficiency and waste in the system. But guess what - there is waste and inefficiency in every company. I've worked at a fair number of companies over the years and I've seen waste everywhere. Dont think that any company out there is perfect.
To be fair, a good part of the waste that I see here is due in large part to the rapid growth of the company. Things that weren't worth focusing on 3 years ago are now so large that they need to be looked at and fixed. That's a good problem to have.
As for investing in NJE, I think a good company is always looking to expand into new markets. Do you want to be part of a company that isn't expanding? That's how you achieve financial stability and we all continue to get raises.
and again, I do agree that the company needs to invest in the pilots and pay them a fair wage. no argument there. But I dont think it should be to "bolster morale and actually improve customer service". It should given because its the right thing to do and the pilots deserve it. I do my job to the best of my abilities every day, regardless of whether I think I should be paid more. Pilots and all other employees should do the same if they are truly professionals.