Jetblue Flight Attendant Union?

[LiveInAHotel]

I recently spoke to a JB f/a and she said that you are trying to organize a union. Will you guys/gals vote one in if it comes to ballot? Flying transcon turns would get me to vote for a union. Back when you allowed AA f/a's jumpseat I saw a f/a on a red-eye OAK-JFK sleeping in the last row. I asked another f/a why she was snoozing and she said "this is a transcon turn for us and we started in JFK earlier tonight." She asked me if AA f/a's do transcon turns and I said NO! She then said "I thought all f/a's did transcon turns?" I said only JB and Delta because you guys don't have a union to stop it!

If you guys decide to organize, try creating your own union. This way they only represent the flight attendants at JetBlue and nobody else.

JBFAA= JetBlue Flight Attendant Association

 

[AKAAB]

There will always be a few that like to talk up the union idea, but I don't see any real movement under way. We do have one guy that keeps preaching about unions. The funny thing is, he's laid off from Lucent - his union didn't manage to keep his job for him. His main reasoning for starting a union is to protect him if he gets in trouble. I suggested that if he keeps his nose clean and acts responsibly, he'd have no need to be protected.

As for the transcon turns, they were added at the request of the flight attendants, not in spite of them. With our preferential bidding system, if you don't like them, you can avoid them. (Woe be to the reserves, of course.) The last time I checked, the transcon turns were popular with the f/a's that want to get their hours in quickly and have a lot of days off in a month.

BTW - when you refer to "back when you allowed AA f/a's jumpseat", I'm not sure what you are talking about? We still allow AA f/a's to jumpseat or non-rev, that has never changed. If you saw an f/a sleeping, I suspect it was a long time ago. The issue of sleeping on duty has been addressed a long, long time ago. Do you have any current anecdotal observations to share?

Cheers!

 

[LaBradford22]

I'm not an F/A myself, but I'm curious as to why a F/A would not want to have trans-con turns available? If I was an F/A, I think I would probably prefer this. It would allow me to compress all of my work-time for a month into a smaller number of days, meaning more days off. Also, although a trans-con turn would be a long and tiring day, barring bad weather or other operational disruption, it would mean that I would be able to sleep under my own roof with my family at night. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Of course, some F/A's might not want to do these trans-con turns, which is their prerogative. But if some do want them, why should their Union disallow them? By disallowing them, it seems to me that a Union is actually doing some of its members a disservice.

 

[Oneflyer]

Only an AA flight attendant would think 5 hours of work was "just too much". Why wouldn't you want to work the turn? Get your hours in quickly, you're not doing much most of the time any way.

 

[coolflyingfool]

I think it will take a long time before there is a union anywhere at Jetblue. Right now the employees are in love with the company and do not want a union rep. Just my thoughts.......

 

[LiveInAHotel]

Only an AA flight attendant would think 5 hours of work was "just too much". Why wouldn't you want to work the turn? Get your hours in quickly, you're not doing much most of the time any way.

Why is it people like you who are not even a f/a always say crap like that? How about you get hired, make it through training (6 weeks unpaid) and then fly a transcon turn. Let me know how you liked it! The problem is safety. Being on duty for 13-14 hours and flying 12 of the hours is not safe. In fact the duty day could be longer depending on delays. Why do you think the JB pilots get off and layover? The FAA doesn't allow them to fly that long in 1 day. If the FAA thinks it's to dangerous for pilots, dont you think it's to dangerous for flight attendants?

Until you get hired as a f/a, I would keep your mouth shut about things you don't know about! Just remember if you have to evacuate a plane in an emergency and your flight attendant is to tired to remember how to get you off the plane, why transcon turns are dangerous!

 

[GroundedBoricua]

Why is it people like you who are not even a f/a always say crap like that? How about you get hired, make it through training (6 weeks unpaid) and then fly a transcon turn. Let me know how you liked it! The problem is safety. Being on duty for 13-14 hours and flying 12 of the hours is not safe. In fact the duty day could be longer depending on delays. Why do you think the JB pilots get off and layover? The FAA doesn't allow them to fly that long in 1 day. If the FAA thinks it's to dangerous for pilots, dont you think it's to dangerous for flight attendants?

Until you get hired as a f/a, I would keep your mouth shut about things you don't know about! Just remember if you have to evacuate a plane in an emergency and your flight attendant is to tired to remember how to get you off the plane, why transcon turns are dangerous!

Well I have to have my say in this and I can talk cause I have been through the training and have been a f/a (so as you say Live). I would wish the carrier I worked for would have transcon turns, I could get my time in quick and more time off. Nobody is putting a gun to their head saying you must do transcon turns (unless you are a very junior reserve unfortunately, but that comes with the field), I'm sure you will find alot of f/a who would do it to get their time in, I would.

And yes its a long day, but what is a union going to do about that???? what about those days that you would do 6 legs a day, thats even worse!!! 6 take offs and 6 landing in a day givs me the creaps. An also you might then want to ask the union to cancel al those trans pacific flight that are over 13 hours, thats alot of time to be working (for you I guess). What about singapore airlines flght non-stop to jfk??? thats almost an 18 hour flight, but thats too much for the senior mamas and papas to handle. Ohh and trust me if the event of an evacuation is needed, your adrenaline will shake off all the sleepiness you may have ( and yes I have actually had to evacuate a plane once).

So if you think unions solve problems, what they do is make problems. the union didn't protect me from losing my job :censored: Never liked unions and never will :down:

 

[WNrforlife]

I'm not suprised that they are considering a union, considering who their VP of In-Flight is.

 

[downline7]

I'm not suprised that they are considering a union, considering who their VP of In-Flight is.

As someone who is an FA at jetBlue and who does transcon turns, they are a choice not mandatory. They're so senior I have to hope I see one in open time.

If you are senior enough, all you have to do is about 2 a week and thats about 100 hours. Having the opportunity to work 100 hours and have 21-22 days off in a month .. I just dont see how dangerous that can be.

With preferential bidding, and reserve about 3 months, we have the ability to tailor make our schedules. If you like transcon turns, great. If you like 5 day trips, awesome. We have the ability to pick and choose.

As for our pilots, most have expressed that they wish they could do transcon turns.

At jB we're all about productivity, and why shouldnt we be? We have at JFK about 200 trips a month that range from productive to unproductive. We have redeyes, daytime flying, 1days - 5days, most cities have layovers, preferential bidding, a great company, decent pay, increased per diem, and an awesome airline overall.

WHY THE HECK DO WE NEED A UNION? We dont. And Ill tell ya, Vicky Stennes our VP of Inflight couldnt agree more.

 

[LiveInAHotel]

WHY THE HECK DO WE NEED A UNION? We dont. And Ill tell ya, Vicky Stennes our VP of Inflight couldnt agree more.

Of course an ex Delta Flight Service employee will tell you that. She drank the Delta Kool-Aid for so long it replaced the blood in her body. :blink:

As for the transoceanic flights 13-18 hours: During these flights you get to take a rest break and crawl into a bunk and sleep. All international carriers and domestic carriers who fly transoceanic flights have crew bunks for the f/a's and pilots. On domestic doing a transcon turn you don't get those crew bunks to take a break and sleep.

It's all about safety and if JetBlue thinks that keeping a flight attendant working for 12-14 hours in a day (not duty time) is safe, they have issues! Like I said before, why do you think the FAA makes the pilots get off and layover? Because it's mandatory by the FAA!!! Just wait and see changes are coming to protect flight attendants and I think transcon turns will be a thing of the past.

 

[luv2fly]

I think it will take a long time before there is a union anywhere at Jetblue. Right now the employees are in love with the company and do not want a union rep. Just my thoughts.......

Most WN employees are in Luv with their company and they have one of the most unionized work groups in the industry. Splain that one.

 

[LiveInAHotel]

Most WN employees are in Luv with their company and they have one of the most unionized work groups in the industry. Splain that one.

[post="166192"][/post]​

Talking union with the JetBlue and Delta people is like talking to a dead person. The s**t will hit the fan one day at JetBlue and Delta and both f/a groups will wish they had a voice and a contract! We will sit and laugh all the way home like the 3 little pigs did.

 

[firstamendment]

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!! Is the person wanting a union a trouble maker? Not use to having a union to defend your trouble? A union will kill your company. NO NO NO!!!

 

[downline7]

What in the world is it with everyone thinking we need a union? For the most part we're a happy group of employees working to make this company great. Before we were hired we were individually made aware of what we'd be making (so if thats such an issue, dont take the job). IMHO we get paid fairly, we have a terrific work environment, all of our problems are solved one way or the other, our company is doing well, the morale is high, etc.

Id say about 96% of us dont want a union and never even considered one. We dont need one. Things are going well so far, so whats the point?

I for one dont want to have to share my paycheck with a 3rd party to make decisions for a company who is doing a great job so far as is.

Talking union with the JetBlue and Delta people is like talking to a dead person. The s**t will hit the fan one day at JetBlue and Delta and both f/a groups will wish they had a voice and a contract! We will sit and laugh all the way home like the 3 little pigs did.

[post="169966"][/post]​

 

[Bagbelt]

That reasoning is fine if you live with mom, but after a few years it gets stale. No offense intended. You may very well not need a union, but it's a lot easier to say what you're saying when you're 20, no kids, mortgage etc., than when you're 50 with you're pension gone and no healthcare so someone can fly to the west coast for $49.