well that was quick.....

[imacdog]

But it saved your company money, YIP! Think about the costs involved with your company retraining a bunch of Falcon pilots to fly the DC-9. Pure management brilliance. How can you be against the company saving money in one instance and for it an another? Is reality too harsh for you in this instance?

 

[pilotyip]

But it saved your company money, YIP! Think about the costs involved with your company retraining a bunch of Falcon pilots to fly the DC-9. Pure management brilliance. How can you be against the company saving money in one instance and for it an another? Is reality too harsh for you in this instance?

But I proved it did not save money, it cost them more because of associated turnover costs. That was the whole thing behind, raising pay, honoring days off, no junior manning, all the things we put in place to reduce turnover. And it worked, in 1999 before these changes we had an annual turnover of nearing 50%, training costs approached $1.5 M per year for an airline with less than 100 pilots. Turnover dropped drastically and the training budget moved well under $500K/yr. But now those guys who run the company, not me, want to go back top the "good ole days". We were the best of bottom feeders and that was the goal. A place to come stay 3-5 years and then go places like SWA, NJ, FedEx, etc. Most people look back at their JUS days with good memories.

 

[imacdog]

Treating pilots well benefits the company? Stop talking reality YIP, this is a pilot board! Don't you know things like fair treatment, good pay, and benefits of seniority are silly little cost unit (pilot) dreams? Now let's go save the comany some money! Motel 6 for all!

 

[G4dude]

Stop that! this is FI, we do not deal in reality on this site, only in the fantasy world of ferry god-mothers who give us anything we want, because we want it.

Darn, I forgot! The union landscape is littered with children who stamp their little feet and cry piteously, insisting on getting what they want, and Devil take the hindmost.

 

[G4dude]

If pilots don't extend then the company would be forced to negotiate something that works. No one is saying the company doesn't need / require / deserve relief on scheduling the GV crews. This is something that could be done in short order. The rub is the company would rather negotiate with individual pilots outside the scope of the CBA. I find it highly likely the company would find financial and operational benefit from negotiating scheduling relief. They would rather divide the pilot group. Given the current makeup of both sides, NJA is going to sink if this keeps up.

I think the pilot group is divided between the union types and the non union types. This divide existed long before integration. It reflects a genuine difference of opinion about how companies and economies and labor relations work in the real world. Thanks for the thoughtful post, though. No bombast, just sober observations, making for good conversation.

 

[G4dude]

Exactly...so here's the million dollar question: Why on Earth are 95% of our GIV pilots Captains? Talk about overstaffing! Our GIV overhead is approximately double what it should be due to a near 100% PIC staffing "good ol boys" club decision that was made by the EMT. If they were really worried about saving money and being competitive, they would exercise their contractual rights within the CBA, announce the fleet in disposal status, and DOWNGRADE 40% of these incredibly junior pilots immediately. Total savings...over $5 Million annually. That should cut down on the "featherbedding".

I think, to the company's credit, they did not do that to the PICs, although it would have been justified, in my opinion. I hadn't thought of this, actually.

 

[NachoMamma]

I think, to the company's credit, they did not do that to the PICs, although it would have been justified, in my opinion. I hadn't thought of this, actually.

My point is the NJI wrote the book on featherbedding their jobs. I find it ironic that one of their own is on here criticizing the union for doing the same thing.

 

[G4dude]

My point is the NJI wrote the book on featherbedding their jobs. I find it ironic that one of their own is on here criticizing the union for doing the same thing.

We didn't featherbed. We are short of SICs because of the furloughs.

 

[NachoMamma]

We didn't featherbed. We are short of SICs because of the furloughs.

Not even remotely true...the ratio was made intentionally lopsided far BEFORE the furloughs. There are a couple of threads about this on the NJ message boards. You should try doing some research sometime...you might learn something.

 

[fischman]

We didn't featherbed. We are short of SICs because of the furloughs.

NJI had a rash of upgrades before the integration. However, and perhaps you or Gutshot can clarify, the way upgrades went over there were different. Something to do with finishing ground and finishing IOE?