usmc-sgt

He was on your side...

Herkulesdrvr

well the good news with the free national health kicking in is that you won't have to worry about paying out of pocket from what I heard.

P-3Bubba

OBAMA!!!!! Lol! Let's see where this goes.

benzoate

I certainly wasn't suggesting he wasn't. Based on yesterday's conference call the latest rhetoric from RM suggests we can no longer compare ourselves to the largest carriers. We must now compare ourselves, well, to us and not expect everything industry standard.

If there ever was a time for a union now seems appropriate. Our latest unilateral healthcare changes are the perfect example of this.

whatifguy

Hey Bubba,

Is that really you? Changing your opinion about a CBA here? Well, I have to say I'm proud of you. Now, please understand that we all know about ALPA and it's history, it's missteps, and its' warts. But it's our best way right now to getting the CBA protections that you and I and the rest of these guys and their families deserve.

In a perfect world, sure I would prefer a successful in-house effort. But we don't have the time or the resources to have an in-house union financially strong enough and experienced enough to competently represent us at the table.

Keep your mind open and keep talking to your captains about how things have deteriorated here over the years. You've gotten smarter since you got hired, but your not there yet, keep learning.

P-3Bubba

Lol! Thanks WhatIf. I was never against a CBA. I just don't want to drive a union on the property because they're the game in town. Read Les Abend's article in Flying, a few months ago, which details how the union and management at AA drove each other past the point of realistic expectations of wages and work rules. A union at JBlue has to remain grounded in reality. A union is not going to arrive on property and magically create a contract which makes healthcare free and equal A320 rates with Delta. Why has SWAPA been effective as a group? Because the group worked with realistic goals and expectations in a symbiotic relationship with management. It works! You can have both. I don't like the sound of the greed drums pounding when mentioned with a union. That doesn't work.

benzoate

P-3 given the legacy experience at JetBlue I wouldnot expect the AA style response. Despite what you read on this board and the "other" board the guys who started JBPA and the last ALPA drive are very level headed. These are experienced people who are simply trying to get what we have now on paper and fix a few things. It's no secrete our retirement and insurance are pathetic. That has been well chronicled here.
Not exactly overnight but very quickly our insurance WOULD change if we were able to negotiate our own benefits. They would be substantially better than what we have now. Retirement will only change if JetBlue agrees but given that they would be able to seperation us from the rest of the employee group I'm sure we would be successful.
Then there are issues like M/A and FSM governance. What SS has written is not entirely correct with respect to either topic. With M/A you are not covered in a variety of scenarios. You will pay your own way through arbitration and a T/E. You will also be stapled if you are in the bottom 50%. As for FSM governance the process sounds great but if your read the documents flight ops picks the pilots to make the deacsions. Who do you think they will support.
Everything fight ops sends out in an email sounds great if the 5 documents were written that way.
Unfortunately most of our pilots take flight ops word and don't read what they signed. This is unfortunate for all of us.
Like I said at face value what you are being told sounds great but if our pilots took a little extra time to read them they would clearly see the difference.

Lastly ALPA is not the greatest, again another dead horse topic, but it would be based on our elected leaders. Wemwouldnhave a local say with a local agenda. In the end that is what matters most.

Gotta get back to adult beverages. My island overnight awaits.

Climbto450

Well said, it is good to see this productive of board posts. Finally!!

whiskey72

and more than likely we would have a large say at the national level. In our group, with our pilot roster, we would command the greatest amount of votes in our group. What does this do? It may just well effectively allow us to vote in one of our OWN as an Executive Vice President on the National BOD. This is a great great thing. If we held that position, we would carry the total amount of votes to a meeting from every airline in our group. This directly from an EVP.

Here's to hoping and working hard,
Whiskey

benzoate

Not to degrade or diminish anyone else's opinions and experiences but the 1193 have some serious soul searching to do. As it stands now we are grossly under protected and subject to a laundry list of negative scenarios. Our benefits package continues to erode year over year. As 3A's end becomes more of a reality our futures certainty further complicates. The potential judgement poses an interesting question for Jetblue leadership as the substantial amount has not been disclosed to the SEC. The legal firm handling the case has suggested such an omission in a 10K report is subject to legal action.
As the stock could drop 20-30% with such a large judgement the airline becomes a takeover target again. The BOD and leadership are currently considering purchasing aircraft in cash to reduce to the potential free cash flow. Consider purchasing a product for 3 dollars and someone gives you 1 dollar and fifty cents back. Based on market cap this is a plausible scenario and something Jetblue is acutely aware of.

I caution those who pass judgment on ALPA based on a regional carrier experience. As there has been a complete turnover and mentality at ALPA the focus is once again on the individual carrier and not an internal agenda.

We are a business my friends and as such decisions will be made that protect the shareholders and board of directors. We are neither and therefore must do what we can to protect ourselves and our families.