GoodBy Bristow
 

So when Bristow lays you off after your working there 7 years they don't even say goodby.

They just pay you off and cancel your id card.

Loyalty doesn't extend to employeers.

Company loyalty's very much a one way street with that lot….:suspect:

Remember the Old Days under Alan Bristow....when "Gardening Leave" existed?

Very much first hand experience of that on several counts from beginning to end of my time there and it's still very much going on. T's & C's being ignored, allowances unpaid, but at the same time one should be grateful for the opportunity to work there…..:ugh:

I'm sure it will depend on the local "middle management". Having retired last August, I had cause to contact the boss man himself in Houston recently. I couldn't have had a more helpful and sympathetic response (within about 5 minutes as well) with a request to phone him, and whilst the outcome is still pending I feel confident it will be positive. The culture at the top is good, but sometimes it gets lost in translation down to middle and local management.

Spend any time in Nigeria did you HC?

I thought the only phone-call anyone in Nigeria makes is the "Hot-Line" to squeal or rat? (BC does give out all his numbers, but I've never heard of him over-riding our national Masters!)

I only got to Nigeria last year, and I hear with the B412 done from EXM & ADX in October there will be lay-offs! (Although an email from HFO asking for work over in Eket makes that kind of schizophrenic?) Another captain on them quit this week so maybe there's hope!

I guess to fair to Bristow it depends, as HC has said, which BU you are with and the quality of your local management

Bristow was once a good company, when the man whose name it bears was at the helm. Now it's just another faceless, bloated corporation which will eventually go the way of all such entities.
In Nigeria the present management is also poor and as Bristow is not an indigenous company, during the coming years its dominance here will decline. There are a lot of unhappy people here ans some of them will soon start to leave.

Like HC, I'm recently retired having spent 2 years with the "original" and 35 with the "colonials." That's a long time to observe "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly."

As observed above, problems mostly originate at the middle level. Sometimes people are let go and it doesn't seem fair. Other times, management goes out of its way to help an employee out. I know of one time when a big boss found out a pilot, through no fault of his own, had a massive medical bill, and took care of it to the tune of close to 6 figures. Pilots who were grounded and had used up all their sick leave were put to work doing other things till they could get up to snuff.

Frankly, it is middle management that takes the brunt of the downside - they aren't protected by the CBA - and when it is decided that it isn't working out, well, it's not always pretty.

As far as layoffs - lots of variables. Covered by a CBA? If not, then overseas postings available, licenses required, etc.

Bottom line is, do your job, keep your nose clean, stay out of management and hope for the best.

Is this the same company that the UK government has entrusted the provision of nationwide Search and Rescue services with in the future?

Two sides to a story
 

I see that most of these comments regarding Bristows are from the US sector.

Whilst the company is the same I think things are a little different in the UK which is why I don't think you can bring the UKSAR into the fold.

Going back to the original post, remember, there is always two sides to a story!

Having worked for a few of the big companies they are not dissimilar.

What's in a name?
 

It was an inspired decision of the people who bought out the original Bristow company to call themselves Bristow and capitalise on the reputation and goodwill that had been built up over the years, and it is obviously still working,... but it can't last forever, can it? What you see is not what you get!

satsuma....Yes it is. Knowing how loyal the RAF seems to be over the past dozen years or so....what is your point?

Entrusted is the key word. Trust transcends the scales, small and large, micro and macro, however you choose to describe them. Comments such as,

and

are observations relating to small scale experiences. Are they reflected on a larger scale with quality of output and if so, what implications are there for the government putting all their trust in one privately-owned organisation providing the SAR service in the UK?

Are you suggesting the ex-RAF pilots manning the Aircraft (nice new shiny state of the art aircraft and not ancient SeaKings).....can no longer get the job done for some reason?

You seem to be forgetting the "military" experienced crews the Civilian Company hires for such work.

Or...is that an "inconvenient truth" ?

A lot of people are unconvinced by SAR privatisation. Comments such as those above only serve to heighten unease. Pilots can only be as good as the tools with which they're provided to do the job and the parameters within which they must work. A competent pilot, well-trained by another organisation, in a shiny new cockpit does not on its own equal an effective SAR organisation.

Satsuma,

have you been or are you currently employed by Bristow?

They may be, but only out of pig ignorance. Privatised SAR has been around for just about as long as I have been a pilot. I very much doubt that the hundreds (or probably thousands) of people who have been rescued by Bristow or CHC SAR in the UK thought "gosh, I remain unconvinced by private SAR, think I'll stay bobbing about in the water / stuck up a mountain until the real (military) SAR boys arrive". Get real!