Our "Team" leader out to lunch

[netjetwife]

NJW says it best...
I can't believe anyone would personally attack her much more appauling is to compare her to Hitler. She was a military wife/mom then to become a frax pilots wife and deal with a husband gone for a week at a time. He should be thanking her for her and her husbands hard work in the military and now for NJA and the 1108.-I personally thank both of them.....

Galaxy, your respectful support and appreciative comments mean a lot to me and I'll pass your thanks on to my husband for his past military service (includes a DFC earned in Iraq) and his current volunteer service to both the Union and NJA (joint committee work highly valued by the Company). You are completely right that we have made a commitment as a family to improve conditions for the pilots of NJA and the frac industry, just as it was a joint decision for my husband to serve our country in the USAF.
Best Regards,
Netjetwife

 

[netjetwife]

Actually, SS has it exactly right. Just quit responding to his posts. Put him on ignore. Skip over his posts. Whatever.

NJW comes in a close second. She also has it exactly right in that B19 simply can't present any RELEVANT info because presently there is only ONE working union in the frac world. And that union has been very successful so far. If he were to hold up the one and only RELEVANT union in this discussion, it would pretty much destroy any of his weak arguments.

It has become a waste of time to debate him. It's the same stuff day after day. No matter how many times you pick apart his arguments he'll still spew the same stuff out again the next day. Kind of the same theory that if you say something the loudest, you must be right.

DO NOT RESPOND to this guy and he'll go away. Unless, of course, he enjoys debating with his alter ego on these boards (in and of itself kind of deceitful and full of serious psychological issues).

Realityman, I think you've chosen a great board name. You're one of those pilots that I was trusting to see the reality of what was happening. I appreciate that you treat me with respect and discuss current frac events with me. You and most of the other pilots here are a very real part of an online frac community that I'm proud to belong to.
Thank you!
Netjetwife

 

[netjetwife]

NJW, You know I admire your fire and passion for our fight. I wish every pilots we have was willing to fight the fight as you are. ....

Silver, the only explanation I have for not thanking you earlier for the complimentary moral support is that I was swept into the fray... with fiery indignation and passionate defense of myself and the hardworking pilots of integrity that lead 1108. I will follow your lead and "ignore the fool". With thanks, NJW

 

[realityman]

NJW, it's all good!
I just had company recurrent with your husband. Just watching that guy work was tiring for me!:laugh: He was on the phone conducting union business on every break. And at the fax machine almost as much. Got nothing but respect for him.

Whoever our next round of leaders and volunteers may be, they'll have some pretty big shoes to fill.

Keepin' it real!!:beer:

 

[netjetwife]

RM, you now have a very good idea of what life is like at my house. As for the next round of leaders, I think the pilots have been given a sneak preview... Suffice it to say that the StrongUnion tradition is alive and well among the NJA pilots. My family is pleased with the response to the latest big project. The unity of our pilotgroup (pilots and family members) bodes well for the future. NJW

PS I love the Keepin' it real! :beer: signature. You should put it on all your posts.

 

[SilverSurfer]

Another example

Here is another example of the inept, incompetent leadership or total lack of leadership that we at Floptions suffer from at the hands of Sh!tfinger and his buddy Punjab.

In a recent quarterly meeting part of the presentation was from our VP of marketing and sales. He started his presentation by listing all of the phrases that are specific to aviation and the fractional industry that were totally foreign to him and had no clue what they meant. I bring this up because our CEO has made it his mission to hire people that know even less the he does throughout upper management ans he does not know anything.

Below is a email I received from a friend that did some research into the activities at the Kentucky Derby.

__________________________________________

Note Flightaware.com for tomorrow's departures:

NETJETS: 14 FLIGHTS SCHEDULED
OPTIONS: 1 Beechjet scheduled SDF-LAF

Netjets bought all the jockeys britches. They all wore "Netjets" on their pant legs for the rich and famous to see. Smart move!!

Guess ********************finger and the Rag had better places to squander their advertising dollars! Hmmmm!!

_________________________________________

During that same meeting Sh!tfinger and PunJab presented a "the sky is falling" scenario and more negative growth for Floptions. He would not address the fact that all other fractional companies are in a growth mode, adding jets, pilots and owners. He continues to stick my head in the sand and ignore the reality of the situation. incompetence breeds incompetence.

Until this mooron and the group of incompetent inexperienced neophytes leave this company and are replaced with competent experienced men that know this industry and aviation the survival of Floptions is in question.

 

[SilverSurfer]

Sh!tfinger just does not get it

These are from two different post that pilots made on the Union message board but they paint and another clear picture of the incompetent management of Sh!finger.


Another example of MS not having a financial clue! I find it interesting that he states that "fractional growth for Flight Options and other providers has been flat in recent years", yet news articles clearly show Flexjet with significant increases in share sales, with more projected for 2008! How is it that they can do it with their increased pilot expense, but "the industry leader" cannot?

He then goes on to say that FO has a "level of stability due to the five-year contracts..., but the overall size of our fractional business is declining each year." Doesn't this contradict his statement about growth being stable? Doesn't he get it that this also contradicts managements claims about increased customer satisfaction scores? If this were the case, they would be referring their friends to FO, and they would be renewing their contracts. New referrals and renewed contracts do not result in "declining" fractional business.

I laughed at his comments about catering costs being a large category of expense. In the past, I provided management with a concrete example of the waste the company pays on their catering contracts (paying $195.00 for something they could have had for $55.00), but can see no evidence of any changes being made to save costs in this area. Knowing that customers pay an hourly rate with cost of living increases each year, you would think that management would be motivated to cut costs in this area as much as possible in order to show a profit.

Finally, I found the 2008 budget to be interesting to say the least. The amounts shown reflect a break-even budget. You can bet that the investors are shown a different set of numbers, because they are in it for the money. Why would they accept break-even? What else isn't MS showing here?! How about showing a breakdown of management personnel showing % of total personnel and % of total compensation dollars? Now that would be enlightening!

All in all, I found the letter to be more proof that MS is just using these letters to try to persuade pilots that the company can't meet our demands. It's a good thing that most of us can see through the mirrors and smoke

After merger we had approximately 225 aircraft and 980 pilots at our maximum from a total of about 1600 employees .
So we had 620 support staff ( Mx and office staff) supported by the 225 aircraft
61% of the employees were pilots and 39 % support staff.

Today with approximately 125 aircraft and 568 pilots we have about 1500 employees total.
Now we have 962 support staff (mx and office staff) supporting 125 aircraft.
38% pilots and 62 % support staff

If 620 support staff could take care of 225 aircraft why can’t they take care of 125 aircraft?
What are the extra 342 support staff doing?

If the average wage of the support staff is about $ 30,000 per year (with benefits) that means we have an added payroll of $10,260,000 per year more in support staff.

Am I missing something????

 

[netjetwife]

What a mess! So the FLOPS have managed to flop the ratios.... That should make things interesting at the bargaining table! It's ridiculous to claim you can't pay standard wages to the pilots, when you have no problem wasting money on a bloated support staff. HIG needs to clean house with a very big broom--starting at the top! The pilots could run FltOps better just by bringing common sense to the job. Unions serve all employees by holding management accountable for their decisions. You guys are saving the company by forcing the FLOPS to get their act together via a contract with the pilots.

It's just prudent to be suspicious of management's statements during contract negotiations, but when it's so glaringly, painfully obvious that the FLOPS are mismanaging the company a pilot would be foolish to take their word for anything related to finances and/or the contract. My sympathy/shared frustration to the Options pilots and their family members. NJW

 

[SilverSurfer]

More Sh!tfinger lies

These were the lies that Sh!tfinger and Punjab were wanting Floptinos employees to buy about negotiations during the quarterly meeting a few weeks ago. After I had a chance to re read these, the obvious nature of what these moorons were trying to do really pi$$es me off. Lets look at each one​

1. Progress has been slow despite a stepped up meeting schedule between March and June.​

When PunJab presented the slide with these statement the stepped up schedule he was referring to had only resulted in 2 additional weeks of negotiations over and above what had been scheduled. So after our negotiations team had been requesting additional bargaining dated from the very beginning and were repeatedly denied by management, Punjab and Sh!tfinger want to whine about slow progress. From what I have read from every negotiations report management has consistently been the problem with progress not our union negotiators.​

2. Only 3 of the 30 sections have been tentatively agreed upon thus far. The last of these three sections was tentatively agreed upon in November
2006​

PunJab wants the uninformed to take away for this statement that negotiation has only found agreement on 3 sections of the 30 sections he references. If this were true, what he would like the uninformed and the coolaid addicts to believe is almost nothing has been negotiated and we are still at the very beginning. None of the is true, this is a complete distortion and misrepresentation of the truth. The truth is that 80-90% of the contract has been negotiated and TA. God forbid you know the truth. At the end of this post I'll attach a list of all of the section that have been negotiated and TA.​

3. Key contract items such as wages, benefits, and some work rules not even
discussed yet​

At face value this is true, but what PunJab is not telling us is that wages and benefits are never negotiated until the very end. Again he wants you to believe that for some reason our union has not broached this subject for some sinister reason. Not true and another attempt at distorting the truth.​

4. Negotiations have been ongoing for 22 months; the current pace presents an
unacceptable time frame for all constituents​

The current pace of negotiations has been set and continues to be set by the stonewalling tactics of management. But PunJab is right about the pace being unacceptable. Thats why our union negotiators have finally said enough and filed for mediation. At least now there will be a outside witness to the foot dragging that management has been using at negotiations.​

5. Poor economic climate, rising fuel prices, and increased Owner delays are
hampering company’s growth plan​

WTF Over.... What has this got to do with negotiations. As seen in other post its the incompetence of Sh!tfinger and PunJab that are responsible this statement, not negotiations.​

6. Company negotiating team proposed an approach to reach an agreement in the next 90-120 days​

I called one of the members of the negotiation team to ask him directly if this was true. NOT! There never was a proposal made by the management negotiations team even remotely close to this statement. Sh!tfinger and PunJab again want Floptions uninformed to believe that they have made proposals to close out negotiations and the union has rejected them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Again the obstacle to real progress at the negotiations table has been management. I heard rumor that Sh!tfinger offered Matt Slinghoff a insulting raise if Mat would relent on all the other sections of the contract, trying to buy him off. Needless to say our MEC Chairman told him our pilots would surly appreciate a interim raise but we will not back down form a industry standard contract. ​

Bottom line management is solely responsible for the slow pace of negotiations and the resulting filling for mediation. No distortion of the facts will allow Sh!tfinger ad PunJab to hide from the roll they have played in bringing this company to the sad state it is in. No distortion of the facts will give them a place to hide form their failures.​

Contract Section Status
Open Sections
1: Scope (v1)
2: Management Rights (v5)
6: Training and Proficiency Checks (v3)
8: Vacations (v1)
10: Paid Time Off (v1)
13: Crew Bases (v11)
13-001 Grandfathering LOA (v7)
14: Special Assignments (v1)
15: Filing of Vacancies (v4)
18: Union Representation (v3)
19: Scheduling (v4)
20: Expenses and Crew Meals (v2)
23: General Conditions (v6)
28: Hours of Service (v8)

Sections Set Aside
4: Qualifications (v7)
5: Seniority (v7)
7: Displacement, Furlough and Recall (v13)
9: Uniforms (v3)
16: Leave of Absence (v11)
21: Grievance Procedure (v10)
22: System Board of Adjustment (v8)

Sections To Be Proposed
3: Definitions
11: TBD
24: Insurance Benefits
27: Salary
Contract Section Status
TA’d Sections
12: Equal Opportunity (06-08-06)
25: Physical Examination (11-16-06)
26: Interment/Prisoner/Missing/Hostage (09-21-06)

Sections Removed
17: Labor-Management Cooperation (v6)

 

[Frac Cap]

(quote) Doesn't he get it that this also contradicts managements claims about increased customer satisfaction scores? If this were the case, they would be referring their friends to FO, and they would be renewing their contracts. New referrals and renewed contracts do not result in "declining" fractional business.


I will go out on a limb here and make a prediction. I will predict that for as long as M.S. is employed here at Flops, we will always make our numbers for customer satisfaction. This is his report card that he can show mom. It is a report card he controls. By a system he sets up, with metrics that only he knows. He will not even tell the reporters what it is measuring and how he is doing it. He can't let mom know he is not doing well in school. But mom is smart. She knows that junior is lying to her when he shows her his report card with all the A's in math, but he still says 1+1=8. We keep loosing our customors, but they are all happy with our product. Hmmm, I just don't think 1+1=8.

 

[netjetwife]

Good analogy, Frac Cap! Another glaring discrepancy: the FLOPS want to blame their problems on the pilotgroup, but that doesn't fit with so many pilots leaving FltOps for a better managed company does it?... Common sense tells us that when those responsible ignore their lawn the grass is greener on the other side.

Congratulations on the write-up in today's AIN Alerts! I recall how glad NJ folks were during negotiations to see our cause make the news. Good comments by "Tree" who my husband has worked with a lot on various projects. (I've met the fine gentleman). Tree is a staunch union/pilot supporter who also works well with NJA management. He's a helluva lot better at interviews than MS. For starters, Tree speaks the truth.

Flight Options Pilot Union Seeks Mediation
On behalf of the approximately 575 Flight Options pilots, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 1108 last week filed for mediation with the National Mediation Board (NMB), saying that contract negotiations between the pilot group and the fractional provider’s management team have “broken down.” Negotiations on the initial work contract between the parties began in June 2006, not long after the Flight Options pilots voted for union representation under IBT 1108. “The current management group is out of touch with its pilots’ legitimate career aspirations,” Local 1108 president Greg Rountree said. “They are responsible for rates of pay and working conditions that fall far below the industry standard.” In fact, Flight Options’ pilot payscale is now the lowest of all the major fractional providers. According to IBT 1108, Flight Options management “complains about the pace of bargaining,” while at the same time refusing to accelerate the pace of the contract talks. Rountree said negotiations last month failed to produce a single agreement. In the meantime, the union wants to continue to negotiate directly with company representatives while it awaits an NMB-assigned mediator. A Flight Options spokeswoman said the company won’t comment on pilot negotiations.

Of course not. It's too hard to argue with reality! The FLOPS shun the spotlight while NJA is courting it. That fact alone speaks volumes. NJW