WestJet CEO's plea to pilots during labour dispute after >90% strike vote. - flying

[a330pilotcanada]

Good Afternoon All:

In labour relations a strike vote of over 90% will suggest rage against management. I would invite comments on the video from Clive Beddoe if this could be considered "unfair labour practice" during negotiations? is his message fear mongering in nature? Do you consider it rash to go behind the union?

Myself I found it interesting that he would mention "Big Red" in his discussion but I digress....

https://www.reddit.com/r/flying/comments/8lmx0o/westjet_ceos_plea_to_pilots_during_labour_dispute/ (https://www.reddit.com/r/flying/comments/8lmx0o/westjet_ceos_plea_to_pilots_during_labour_dispute/)

[BluSdUp]

What an absolute looser , I have never seen such a pathetic performance ever.
Downright irrational and counter productive to air such a moronic statement!.
Who can ever respect a man like that!

[bafanguy]

This is merely a typical crisis of trust. Labor no longer trusts management; it’s inevitable on a cyclical timeline. It’s nothing new…expect more of same.

I have a very clear recollection of a DVD sent around to 10s of 1,000s of employee homes by Delta’s then CEO, Gerald Grinstein, talking about the then tough times for the company.

He also made the statement that HIS paycheck also wasn’t what it should be. Ergo, he understood the concerns of the serfs and peasants.

These people live in a bubble with a pernicious disconnect from reality…and they have no shame.

Nothing to see here. Just another day at the office.

[Mostly Harmless]

This is an old video, released to the pilot group during a previous contract negotiation about 5-6 years ago. The economy was booming and the company wanted (and got) a concessionary agreement and this was meant to turn a tight vote into a yes vote... it actually turned a tight vote into a no vote (version 2 was an improvement over version 1 but still a step backwards from what we had). It is old news, other than the fact that he is still the chairman of the board, and still steering the ship into it's current troubled waters. I suspect he will kill the company to feed his ego or he will be removed as a the chairman of the board by large investors.

[JV]

Out of the business for ancillary reasons. I am 58, soon to be 59. That means that I have seen the business in the dirty times. I actually made more than a Westjet pilot in a large jet charter operator when they started up, but never made more than what they do now. And I am nowhere near the financial level of either westjet or big red employee.

Don't get me wrong, if a pilot can earn as much as a specialist surgeon.........well........ok........nice if you can get it. Don't forget that this is a former pilot talking, so I have, or rather had, a vested interest.

Have to say though that the video did not strike me as unreasonable. And I know I will be shot to pieces by saying what I just said, but I am having trouble visualizing Westjet pilots as poor and underpaid, they get paid well. As far as I can tell, there is Lufthansa, Air France, The legacy American carriers, Air Canada, and then Westjet. Not at the top, put in pretty good company.

I started in Canada at the low levels just like everybody else, in an era where there were many ''airlines''. After 4 decades, the only viable solutions are air canada and Westjet. As everyone knows, the canadian industry is littered with failed operators with heartbreaking and nasty stories.

Not the smartest guy in the world, I feel that the current situation is only going to push the marketplace into a one airline country, which I find very sad. As a retiree with no privileges, would like to see some choice in the marketplace.

Hope it does not happen, but I have seen the dark side, purely by circumstance. Sure as hell did not need to see or experience it.

A bit of a cliché I know, maybe seeing the forest for the trees could be a course of action. If you are at Westjet, sure, you get paid less than air canada, but it's not like you are paid half, or even three quarters, of total compensation. You are paid close to, but not quite at, big red levels. You also cannot compete with the built in protection air canada gets; unfortunately, if big red goes poof, which it came close to doing a few times, the state controlled legal system would not permit that for the sole reason that the damage to the canadian economy would be severe and potentially debilitating.

[Mostly Harmless]

Out of the business for ancillary reasons. I am 58, soon to be 59. That means that I have seen the business in the dirty times. I actually made more than a Westjet pilot in a large jet charter operator when they started up, but never made more than what they do now. And I am nowhere near the financial level of either westjet or big red employee.

Don't get me wrong, if a pilot can earn as much as a specialist surgeon.........well........ok........nice if you can get it. Don't forget that this is a former pilot talking, so I have, or rather had, a vested interest.

Have to say though that the video did not strike me as unreasonable. And I know I will be shot to pieces by saying what I just said, but I am having trouble visualizing Westjet pilots as poor and underpaid, they get paid well. As far as I can tell, there is Lufthansa, Air France, The legacy American carriers, Air Canada, and then Westjet. Not at the top, put in pretty good company.

I started in Canada at the low levels just like everybody else, in an era where there were many ''airlines''. After 4 decades, the only viable solutions are air canada and Westjet. As everyone knows, the canadian industry is littered with failed operators with heartbreaking and nasty stories.

Not the smartest guy in the world, I feel that the current situation is only going to push the marketplace into a one airline country, which I find very sad. As a retiree with no privileges, would like to see some choice in the marketplace.

Hope it does not happen, but I have seen the dark side, purely by circumstance. Sure as hell did not need to see or experience it.

A bit of a cliché I know, maybe seeing the forest for the trees could be a course of action. If you are at Westjet, sure, you get paid less than air canada, but it's not like you are paid half, or even three quarters, of total compensation. You are paid close to, but not quite at, big red levels. You also cannot compete with the built in protection air canada gets; unfortunately, if big red goes poof, which it came close to doing a few times, the state controlled legal system would not permit that for the sole reason that the damage to the canadian economy would be severe and potentially debilitating.

Everything must be judged in the time period in which it happened. At this particular junction (when this video was made and sent out), the company was making record profits and asking for (and got) a concessionary contract. They were not in financial difficulty. They still are not in any financial difficulty. If they were, it would be a different discussion. Once upon a time the leaders of the company were the first to take cuts to pay when things were not going well, and the staff gladly followed. How could they not? The leaders were leading. Now, the "leaders" are increasing their pay and their bonuses by reaching into my pocket and telling me I need less so they can have more. I'm not sure if you see the difference in what is being done and what the reaction is to that situation? I don't begrudge anyone making a good living, but in no way are they allowed to take money away from me to stuff their pockets.

WJ was founded on the bedrock of everyone in the company sharing in the fortunes and failures of the company. A rising tide raising all boats. In the last few years, the executives have bought themselves a helicopter and a hand drill.... so the tides don't effect them anymore and they are busy putting holes into the bottom of the employee boat so it sinks a little more each year. Had they stuck with the original model.... the labour issues they have today would not exist. This was driven from the top down, not the bottom up.

[Jet Jockey A4]

Strike avoided... both sides are going back to the table.

[roybert]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/westjet-alpa-meditors-fmcs-1.4676957 (http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/westjet-alpa-meditors-fmcs-1.4676957Intresting)

Interesting analysis by a CBC Reporter who's claiming that WestJet discussed the possibility of shutting down the airline instead of negotiating a contract.