NetJets' Unions Say Contract Talks Dragging

March 31, 2014
The company's pilots, flight attendants, dispatchers, maintenance workers, mechanics and stock clerks are in the midst of contract negotiations with the company, the world's largest private-jet operator.

March 29--About 200 NetJets employees marched in front of the company's headquarters at Port Columbus yesterday, conducting an informational picket over labor talks that they say have dragged on -- in one case, for years.

The company's pilots, flight attendants, dispatchers, maintenance workers, mechanics and stock clerks are in the midst of contract negotiations with the company, the world's largest private-jet operator.

"We're the worker bees," said JoDelle Burwell, a flight attendant based in Kansas City.

And their message to management was simple, said Paul Suffoletto, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 284.

"Now that revenue and profits are up, that should be shared by these employees," he said. "We shouldn't be going backwards."

About 3,000 pilots are represented by the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots. The 500 other workers are represented by Local 284.

Both employee groups say NetJets is pushing for wage and benefit cuts.

"They're giving profit-share payments to managers and non-union workers and they're asking us for concessionary agreements," said John Malmborg, president of the pilots' association.

Negotiations between NetJets and its flight attendants have run on for more than three years, the longest of any employee group, Suffoletto said. A mediator from the National Mediation Board will attempt to end the impasse.

The pilots have been negotiating with NetJets since May 2013.

"The contract never expires," Malmborg explained. "It moves into a status-quo arrangement and neither party is allowed to alter it, as required by law."

NetJets issued a statement yesterday in response to the picketing, which it called "theatrics."& amp; amp; lt; /p>

"NetJets is committed to good-faith bargaining with (the pilots' association) and the Teamsters, and we share our team members' frustration with the lack of progress that has resulted from the unions' failure to negotiate in a responsible and meaningful way. As such, we are disappointed that the unions are engaging in theatrics such as informational picketing when there is work to be done at the bargaining table."

Employment numbers at NetJets have changed over the years. About 500 NetJets pilots were furloughed in 2009 in the midst of an economic downturn that cut the demand for private-jet travel.

The company recently recalled six of the furloughed pilots and has also advertised for flight attendants.

"We're looking at the potential of recalling additional pilots," said NetJets spokesman Tom Hoyt. "We're evaluating our needs and, as the market changes, we could add more as needed."

He said the company plans to hire approximately 10 flight attendants and could also add more over time.

NetJets revenue rose 7.5 percent in 2013, said Warren Buffett, CEO of parent company Berkshire Hathaway.

In his annual letter to shareholders, he did not disclose NetJets' total revenue or profit. Buffett wrote that revenue increased $288 million, or 7.5 percent, for the year, which indicates revenue was about $4.1 billion.

He also said earnings "were relatively unchanged from 2011," which he previously reported as $227 million.

"While NetJets has been profitable in recent years, owners are more concerned about price and value than ever before, which is creating an increasingly competitive marketplace," the company's website says.

NetJets is in the early stages of a 10-year plan to purchase 670 aircraft for $17.6 billion that will completely update its fleet.

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