Jetblue Employees & Whining In The Press

[UseYourHead]

This goes for pilots, flight attendants, customer service/reservations agents, ramp, cleaners, mechanics, whomever....

When was the last time you read a new story about jetBlue (or any LCC) who had employees in the press due to the inability to go to Starbucks, exchange Xmas presents, etc?

Do I care personally about all of us, the hardships we individually are facing, lives that are changing, new career choices being made? Of course I do (I have had to adjust my life in a big way as well.

While it is true that there is a personal side to the story, at the end of the day, customers want value (cheapest seat possible), and reliable, clean, respectful service.

We have to find a way to deliver at a profit, and enjoy ours lives as well...if we individually cannot, we should move on. There is a long line of job applicants willing to step in for what many here think is unreasonable.

I have been looking for jobs for months now and find the landscape inhospitable....

 

[Imamec.itsmyfault]

Blah, blah, blah! Same old story, if you don't like it, get out!

The last time I checked, this was still America, where we have the right to complain, and/or fight back when someone is trying to steal from us! You, and so many others, seem to forget that Jetblue is only a few years old. Their employees signed on with the knowledge that they were getting a set package, as did we, 15-35 years ago. Seems to me those years of caring service should mean more than a shove out the door.

And if they don't, at least we can take Bronner's ego with us!!!

 

[UseYourHead]

I haven't forgot jetBlue is only a few years old, I have been in the industry probably longer than you...28 years anyway. I was simply stating a fact that even though JFK is expensive, even though they have airline retreads working (TWA, AMR, US Airways, DAL, etc.) you do not hear massive complaining.

Your right, they all signed on at lower wages and 0 years seniority too. Something to think about.

It appears that the absent negotiated agreements here, the judge will be deciding the new contract terms here to, around mid-Nov.

I hope for all parties involved, they can pick & choose for themselves, as opposed to the judge doing it for them.

PitBull and other were woefully incorrect thinking that the judge was going to award them something better than the company needs, that did not and will not happen.

Blah, blah, blah! Same old story, if you don't like it, get out!

The last time I checked, this was still America, where we have the right to complain, and/or fight back when someone is trying to steal from us! You, and so many others, seem to forget that Jetblue is only a few years old. Their employees signed on with the knowledge that they were getting a set package, as did we, 15-35 years ago. Seems to me those years of caring service should mean more than a shove out the door.

And if they don't, at least we can take Bronner's ego with us!!!

[post="194644"][/post]​

 

[WestCoastGuy]

I think when we see other LCC such as WN with higher pay and respect for the labor groups and a management team that actually encourages and respects their workers, it makes most of us here stop and think about that compared to what we are dealing with. Our sacrafices and promises made, then broken by mgmt, and the "token" salary cuts from CCY, give us all cause to not believe the needs for the extreme cuts. Just my opinion, but I dont believe a word out of the mouths of the likes of Messers, Lakefield, bronner and Glass.

 

[Phantom Fixer]

For me...fighting to maintain a quality of life is a pure and simple matter of survival.

With energy costs on the ever increasing frontburner....it's not about a $4 Cup of wanna-be Yuppie Starbucks Coffee...or a $1 Plus Bottle of Dasani Water , its about keeping a mortgage paid , heat and lights glowing...and filiing the tank on my aging yet well maintaned 4Cylinder get to work car.

It's also about trying to save for the day I'm Ill..or ready to retire..and my pension is in the pocket of the current or next "Fly-By-Night CEO or Debtor in Posession Guy...assuming we even have a job after the first of the year?

Those that love to poke fun about having the extra's to boast about drinking Starbucks and drinking fancy bottled water are few....and somewhat sickening to me. These are the very ones that pay as much for 20 Oz's for Coffee or Water which are inert things..yet complain to beat the band about gas being over $2.00 a gallon.

Many in my opinion are purely foolish on how they elect to spend their earnings..yet it's not about that for the average U Employee...it never has been , it's about taking care of your family with just enough comfort level to squeeze by on.

U's Employee's are now at an average of making $47K a year and declining rapidly....and when you look at how many are making $400k Plus...and how many are making in excess of $120K..then divide that into roughly 27,000 people....you can see how many are at or below the state average income level of $35k in a state like North Carloina for example....I'm sure Pa's average income can't be much different.

Next time you post about some average working Joe/Jane that's trying to get by on $35 to $45K annually...with ever increasing contributions to health insurance , car insurance , taxes and energy costs...rememeber that those same people are supporting more than just themselves on those median incomes at present.

Without middle America...which is coming to a life near you...America is going to go the way of a thousand civilizations before us. This rich get all the tax breaks..and the middle is what makes all the tax contributions to keep the country solvent and moving.

I know I can't be thinking about Starbucks Coffee...I surely can't be thinking about buying a new car..regardless of 0% financing , no matter the length of the terms either. I will also not be playing Mr.Social-Climber by being on of the cool guys exchanging gifts with the crew either....I see a Pot-Luck Dinner where everyone pitches in....and that for us will be Christmas at U behind the scenes in many cases.

Let me know where you work..and what you make. I'll be more than happy to poke my nose into your affairs too....hell I may even go out of my way to boycot the services you provide too. Heck , wouldn't that level the field nicely for us all?

 

[Hope777]

Well, with 23years and Tuesday/Wednesday Off and my Summer Vacation coming up on Novemeber 2nd, I CAN NOT afford to take my Wife and Three Kids anywhere on Vacation. Great Carrer Choice I made a few Decades ago.

 

[WestCoastGuy]

Very well said, Phantom and Hope. It speaks volumes about the lives of many US employees. Most of us are in the exact same situation. It's a shame that it all falls of deaf ears in CCY. What a morally corrupt. uncaring, self centered bunch of carpet baggers we have trying to run the show.

 

[700UW]

Phantom,

Could have not said it any better.

Excellent Post!

Don't forget the people who are making $32k now will be below $30k per year.

Maybe US will set up Company towns so the employees will have a place to live but have to give their whole paycheck back to the company.

 

[SoldWholeSale]

We all forget that what makes USAir employees so much more expensive than the competition is not our hourly rate of pay. Its the rest of the contract. Mechs pushing aircraft back? Noone else does that. The inability of the company to crossutilize employee groups.... Duty/trip rigs for the pilots and f/a's. Thats where the real money is. The SWA/JB/F9/HP employee groups do a bit of everything and aren't really prevented (unless by certification) from doing any task to make sure the operation runs like a clock.

When was the last time you saw a SWA pilot in a resteraunt with a long rest between flights? Ever seen a JB mechanic sitting on his tug watching a plane on another flight on another gate depart late because they didn't have anyone to drive the tug and it wasn't his gate? Ever seen the f/a's at any of those airlines leave a messy airplane because it wasn't their job? Come on, even the pilots pull ticketts and throw bags if needed.....

Thats why we at USAir are so $$$ and also why we will have to get paid less than the competition, because we aren't willing to just do what it takes....

We have made our bed, time to fluff the pillow and sleep in what we made.

 

[UseYourHead]

I understand, and I can relate!

I think when we see other LCC such as WN with higher pay and respect for the labor groups and a management team that actually encourages and respects their workers, it makes most of us here stop and think about that compared to what we are dealing with. Our sacrafices and promises made, then broken by mgmt, and the "token" salary cuts from CCY, give us all cause to not believe the needs for the extreme cuts. Just my opinion, but I dont believe a word out of the mouths of the likes of Messers, Lakefield, bronner and Glass.

[post="194657"][/post]​

 

[UseYourHead]

I work here at US Airways, so I can relate all you have said.

For me...fighting to maintain a quality of life is a pure and simple matter of survival.

With energy costs on the ever increasing frontburner....it's not about a $4 Cup of wanna-be Yuppie Starbucks Coffee...or a $1 Plus Bottle of Dasani Water , its about keeping a mortgage paid , heat and lights glowing...and filiing the tank on my aging yet well maintaned 4Cylinder get to work car.

Let me know where you work..and what you make. I'll be more than happy to poke my nose into your affairs too....hell I may even go out of my way to boycot the services you provide too. Heck , wouldn't that level the field nicely for us all?

[post="194658"][/post]​

 

[UseYourHead]

All good points....

We all forget that what makes USAir employees so much more expensive than the competition is not our hourly rate of pay. Its the rest of the contract. Mechs pushing aircraft back? Noone else does that. The inability of the company to crossutilize employee groups.... Duty/trip rigs for the pilots and f/a's. Thats where the real money is. The SWA/JB/F9/HP employee groups do a bit of everything and aren't really prevented (unless by certification) from doing any task to make sure the operation runs like a clock.

When was the last time you saw a SWA pilot in a resteraunt with a long rest between flights? Ever seen a JB mechanic sitting on his tug watching a plane on another flight on another gate depart late because they didn't have anyone to drive the tug and it wasn't his gate? Ever seen the f/a's at any of those airlines leave a messy airplane because it wasn't their job? Come on, even the pilots pull ticketts and throw bags if needed.....

Thats why we at USAir are so $$$ and also why we will have to get paid less than the competition, because we aren't willing to just do what it takes....

We have made our bed, time to fluff the pillow and sleep in what we made.

[post="194671"][/post]​

 

[700UW]

We all forget that what makes USAir employees so much more expensive than the competition is not our hourly rate of pay. Its the rest of the contract. Mechs pushing aircraft back? Noone else does that. The inability of the company to crossutilize employee groups.... Duty/trip rigs for the pilots and f/a's. Thats where the real money is. The SWA/JB/F9/HP employee groups do a bit of everything and aren't really prevented (unless by certification) from doing any task to make sure the operation runs like a clock.

When was the last time you saw a SWA pilot in a resteraunt with a long rest between flights? Ever seen a JB mechanic sitting on his tug watching a plane on another flight on another gate depart late because they didn't have anyone to drive the tug and it wasn't his gate? Ever seen the f/a's at any of those airlines leave a messy airplane because it wasn't their job? Come on, even the pilots pull ticketts and throw bags if needed.....

Thats why we at USAir are so $$$ and also why we will have to get paid less than the competition, because we aren't willing to just do what it takes....

We have made our bed, time to fluff the pillow and sleep in what we made.

[post="194671"][/post]​

Once again you post misinformation. US Airways flies into 89 Mainline Cities, mechanics only push planes back in BOS, CLT, LGA, DCA, PIT and PHL, and this is only when they are not busy with maintenance, and I can tell you from my city the ramp does the majority of the pushbacks at a maintenance station. In CLT you have 8 mechanics for B-con and 8 for C-con, you would need that many anyhow to perfrom the required daily checks, rechecks and unforeseen maintenance.

Northwest Airlines where mechanics are staffed they push the plane.

In the Customer Service and Fleet Service contracts at US Airways there are provisions for cross-utilization.

US flies into 89 mainline cities and you have utility only at 8 stations during 1st and second shift, F/As clean the plane at 25 domestic stations, and the remaining 56 stations are either ramp, vendor or customer service.

You don't see other employee groups non-revving and get up in the middle of the flight to serve drinks or if there is no pilot for a ramper or anyone else jump in the cockpit and fly the plane?

Any other wrong information you care to post? Come back when you get your facts in order.

 

[Light Years]

Most of the "retreads" are furloughed employees (at least F/As) who are making the same if not better than what they left "the big guy" at. I have a friend at JetBlue that made more in her first year there than she did at US. If I were to go back to US at my seniority (which would be MDA) I would be making less per hour and less on per diem than when I started at US five years ago, a few thousand less than the 20,000 I made in my first year at US. It's all relative.

US has junior employees willing to work for JetBlue contracts (thiers would be a godsend for the MDA folks), but they furloughed the junior 50% of the workforce and now have the gall to complain about senior employees. RING RING- cluephone for US!- If you chop the airline in half, you end up with only the most senior employees and therefore much higher overall labor costs.

We are not talking about 5 year employees here. 5 year employees would love a JetBlue contract (and, mind you, JetBlue treatment of employees.) People who have been with the airline for decades should not have to work under LCC starting pay. When there are 30-40 year JetBlue employees come back and ask if they would be happy with year one contracts.

You have to compare the 5 year folks at US to the people at JetBlue, and US's unused 5 year contracts if you are going to compare.

And US Airways has high non-labor costs because they are intent on running an international, full-service network carrier, just with LCC labor costs. When US Airways has a single fleet type and flies only to the big markets in secondary airports, no international or regional service (not that I think thet should) then you can compare them.

Now, I heard a hell of a lot of WN F/As complaining before they got thier industry leading contract, in fact I had more pamphlets given to me by them in LAX than the Hare Krishnas. Not to mention thier billboards and ads on buses in PHL.

How come you never hear anyone from US Airways blathering on about Southwests contracts anymore? BECAUSE THEY ARE BETTER.

US employees are willing to be efficient and flexible, as long as the company is too (too many fleet types, Express carriers, needless divisions and subsidiaries, overpaid and redundant mgmt, silly scheduling of aircraft, we could go on and on), and as long as they can put food on thier table.

And if people really think that they are entitled to $29 airplane rides and that hard-working people should make minimum or povery wages to safely launch thousands of them a day to support them, well then I can't wait to laugh and point fingers when you are deemed unworthy of middle class life... it won't be long now if things continue. :down: The arrogance of some people to judge the worth of careers they know nothing about is amazing. Piss off.

 

[UseYourHead]

I too know many at jetBlue, and they are furlougees from all airlines, as I have been in the industry for 28 years, and a 20 year employee here at US Airways.

They do not make anywhere near what they did here, as a starting employee (I'm talking pilots here). However, they do have a nice atmosphere to work in...they do it (much more work) for less pay, have not much of a contract and so on.

That deal is what we have all been fighting to avoid.

Most of the "retreads" are furloughed employees (at least F/As) who are making the same if not better than what they left "the big guy" at. I have a friend at JetBlue that made more in her first year there than she did at US. If I were to go back to US at my seniority (which would be MDA) I would be making less per hour and less on per diem than when I started at US five years ago, a few thousand less than the 20,000 I made in my first year at US. It's all relative.

The arrogance of some people to judge the worth of careers they know nothing about is amazing. Piss off.

[post="194688"][/post]​