| Date of release | Subject |
22 Mar 2020 15:04 - COVID-19
Having seen the disastrous own goals by easyJet, management is keen not to repeat those mistakes. There are ongoing discussions to ensure that you, the Skyshare crewmember is not treated unfairly in these unprecedented times.
24 Jun 2013 20:14 - Update
We would like to encourage all Colleagues who have not yet joined our Union to consider doing so now. As a member you can make sure that your voice is heard.
Joining is quick and easy. You can do it right here on this website. We are a low cost Union. We are a group of NetJets pilots working for free for our fellow Colleagues. We spend our Members' money only on essential things such as legal advice, accounting, IT infrastructure and travel. As a result, our Members pay a lot less than the Union dues normally charged by more traditional Unions. If you are still undecided you can read the Q&As and send us an email with any questions or concerns you may have. Our email addresses are right here on this website.
Joining is quick and easy. You can do it right here on this website. We are a low cost Union. We are a group of NetJets pilots working for free for our fellow Colleagues. We spend our Members' money only on essential things such as legal advice, accounting, IT infrastructure and travel. As a result, our Members pay a lot less than the Union dues normally charged by more traditional Unions. If you are still undecided you can read the Q&As and send us an email with any questions or concerns you may have. Our email addresses are right here on this website.
18 Dec 2012 21:16 - Skyshare recognised
Dear Colleagues
Today the Central Arbitration Committee declared that Skyshare is recognised by NetJets Management Ltd. as entitled to conduct collective bargaining on behalf of all pilots employed by NetJets Management Ltd.
Both sides now have until February 1st to agree on a method by which they will conduct collective bargaining. If no agreement is reached the CAC will decide for the parties.
I am currently away on vacation until the new year but will update you as soon as more information becomes available.
I would like to thank all of you for your fantastic support. Without it we would not have been able to achieve this.
I wish all of you happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year.
Stefan
P.S. The full CAC decision should be available on the CAC website soon.
Today the Central Arbitration Committee declared that Skyshare is recognised by NetJets Management Ltd. as entitled to conduct collective bargaining on behalf of all pilots employed by NetJets Management Ltd.
Both sides now have until February 1st to agree on a method by which they will conduct collective bargaining. If no agreement is reached the CAC will decide for the parties.
I am currently away on vacation until the new year but will update you as soon as more information becomes available.
I would like to thank all of you for your fantastic support. Without it we would not have been able to achieve this.
I wish all of you happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year.
Stefan
P.S. The full CAC decision should be available on the CAC website soon.
5 Oct 2012 12:06 - High Court decides in Skyshare's favour
Dear Skyshare Members and Friends
We are very pleased to be able to report that Skyshare was able to successfully defend the CAC's decision in our favour.
The judicial review (appeal) which NetJets had applied for was decided in our favour by the High Court today.
You may remember that NetJets had applied for a judicial review of an earlier CAC decision with regards to the territorial applicability of our application for statutory (forced) recognition. Although Skyshare was not the defendant (the CAC was) we argued the CAC's case as “interested party” because the CAC itself did not defend their decision.
This is obviously great news and shows once again that perseverance does pay off. We are now even closer to recognition than we were just a few days ago.
However, NetJets has indicated that they are going to seek permission to (once again) appeal this decision. This permission to appeal must be granted either by the High Court or the Court of Appeal. We intend to continue to defend your essential right to bargain collectively and will keep you informed as soon as we learn more.
The CAC will now decide whether or not a ballot will be held. In either case, with your continued support, Skyshare will be your recognised Union in the not too distant future.
All the best
Skyshare Executive Committee
We are very pleased to be able to report that Skyshare was able to successfully defend the CAC's decision in our favour.
The judicial review (appeal) which NetJets had applied for was decided in our favour by the High Court today.
You may remember that NetJets had applied for a judicial review of an earlier CAC decision with regards to the territorial applicability of our application for statutory (forced) recognition. Although Skyshare was not the defendant (the CAC was) we argued the CAC's case as “interested party” because the CAC itself did not defend their decision.
This is obviously great news and shows once again that perseverance does pay off. We are now even closer to recognition than we were just a few days ago.
However, NetJets has indicated that they are going to seek permission to (once again) appeal this decision. This permission to appeal must be granted either by the High Court or the Court of Appeal. We intend to continue to defend your essential right to bargain collectively and will keep you informed as soon as we learn more.
The CAC will now decide whether or not a ballot will be held. In either case, with your continued support, Skyshare will be your recognised Union in the not too distant future.
All the best
Skyshare Executive Committee
19 Jun 2012 12:34 - Update
Dear Colleagues
Great news from the CAC: Following the hearing regarding the bargaining unit, the CAC have once again decided in Skyshare's favour and have accepted our proposed bargaining unit of all pilots employed by NetJets Management Ltd.
You may have read our COO's latest message commenting on this decision. In his email he says that he is concerned that this bargaining unit (consisting of 777 pilots, the vast majority of all crew members employed by NetJets in Europe) may create tension between crew. We find this remarkable, keeping in mind that the company had submitted that only those crew members with gateways in the UK should be included in the bargaining unit. That would have been a much smaller group and would have been much more likely to lead to a division amongst us.
He also mentions the fact that by law the UK CAC cannot decide to include those employed by NTA as opposed to NJM Ltd. Knowing that there are hardly any line pilots left with a Portuguese contract, we find it difficult to understand what his concern might be. Furthermore, nothing will prevent the company from applying the same negotiated conditions to our PT colleagues.
We have previously explained why we have chosen not to include cabin crew in the bargaining unit at this time. Not only are the qualifications and job markets for pilots and flight attendants quite different, but cabin crew have only joined Skyshare in small numbers and we thought it would not be right to force our cabin crew colleagues into recognition when they haven't expressed the desire to be represented by Skyshare.
Very soon the CAC will decide whether or not a ballot will be required. We will of course update you as soon as we have a decision.
Thank you for your continued support and all the best!
Skyshare Executive Committee
Great news from the CAC: Following the hearing regarding the bargaining unit, the CAC have once again decided in Skyshare's favour and have accepted our proposed bargaining unit of all pilots employed by NetJets Management Ltd.
You may have read our COO's latest message commenting on this decision. In his email he says that he is concerned that this bargaining unit (consisting of 777 pilots, the vast majority of all crew members employed by NetJets in Europe) may create tension between crew. We find this remarkable, keeping in mind that the company had submitted that only those crew members with gateways in the UK should be included in the bargaining unit. That would have been a much smaller group and would have been much more likely to lead to a division amongst us.
He also mentions the fact that by law the UK CAC cannot decide to include those employed by NTA as opposed to NJM Ltd. Knowing that there are hardly any line pilots left with a Portuguese contract, we find it difficult to understand what his concern might be. Furthermore, nothing will prevent the company from applying the same negotiated conditions to our PT colleagues.
We have previously explained why we have chosen not to include cabin crew in the bargaining unit at this time. Not only are the qualifications and job markets for pilots and flight attendants quite different, but cabin crew have only joined Skyshare in small numbers and we thought it would not be right to force our cabin crew colleagues into recognition when they haven't expressed the desire to be represented by Skyshare.
Very soon the CAC will decide whether or not a ballot will be required. We will of course update you as soon as we have a decision.
Thank you for your continued support and all the best!
Skyshare Executive Committee
27 Mar 2012 19:07 - CAC decision
Dear Colleagues
This is a quick update to inform you that the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) has decided in Skyshare's favour following the hearing on the 16th of March this year.
As you might remember, the company had submitted to the CAC that our application should not be accepted based on an insufficient connection of our employment with Great Britain.
The CAC has decided that this is not the case:
Quotes from the CAC decision:
“The Panel notes that in this case the Union meets the statutory requirement of having a certificate of independence and the Employer is a company which is registered in Great Britain. The contract between the workers in the proposed bargaining unit and the Employer is governed by English law and is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts; includes terms relating to pay, hours and holidays; and applies to everyone in the proposed bargaining unit. All members of the proposed bargaining unit are subject to National Insurance contributions in Great Britain. The Panel considers that the connection of workers within the proposed bargaining unit, taken as a group, with Great Britain is sufficiently strong for the Union to be able to seek recognition to be entitled to conduct collective bargaining on their behalf.”
“The Panel’s decision is that there are no territorial restrictions relevant to whether the application for recognition by the Union in respect of the proposed bargaining unit in this case should be accepted.”
We think that this is a very positive outcome for Skyshare and its members and a major step towards recognition.
We will update you on the next steps very soon.
Thank you for your continued support. Without it, we would never have come so far.
Skyshare Executive Committee
This is a quick update to inform you that the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) has decided in Skyshare's favour following the hearing on the 16th of March this year.
As you might remember, the company had submitted to the CAC that our application should not be accepted based on an insufficient connection of our employment with Great Britain.
The CAC has decided that this is not the case:
Quotes from the CAC decision:
“The Panel notes that in this case the Union meets the statutory requirement of having a certificate of independence and the Employer is a company which is registered in Great Britain. The contract between the workers in the proposed bargaining unit and the Employer is governed by English law and is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts; includes terms relating to pay, hours and holidays; and applies to everyone in the proposed bargaining unit. All members of the proposed bargaining unit are subject to National Insurance contributions in Great Britain. The Panel considers that the connection of workers within the proposed bargaining unit, taken as a group, with Great Britain is sufficiently strong for the Union to be able to seek recognition to be entitled to conduct collective bargaining on their behalf.”
“The Panel’s decision is that there are no territorial restrictions relevant to whether the application for recognition by the Union in respect of the proposed bargaining unit in this case should be accepted.”
We think that this is a very positive outcome for Skyshare and its members and a major step towards recognition.
We will update you on the next steps very soon.
Thank you for your continued support. Without it, we would never have come so far.
Skyshare Executive Committee
18 Mar 2012 11:38 - Update
Dear Colleagues,
Last Friday two executive members represented Skyshare at a formal meeting conducted by the Central Arbitration Committee(CAC) in the UK. They were at the meeting to support our petition to enable Skyshare to be your bargaining group in the company. Presenting their opposition to our case were Alec Werner and his legal team. One of the most important parts of that meeting was to establish the territorial aspects of Skyshare. That is, do we have legitimate rights and protections under English law (like our contract states) or not? The company argues that we do not have significant ties to the UK in spite of being employed by NetJets Management Limited, London.
We are now following a highly regulated and legal path as laid down by the CAC. We will know the decision from yesterday’s meeting hopefully by the end of March. Once we have that decision, we will know the next step.
We have had to do this as the voluntary process was not going to be fair or equitable to you all. The company wanted to go outside the legal guidelines stipulated by the CAC. We felt that this was unacceptable and against the spirit of voluntary and harmonious recognition. We have attempted to be fair, generous and flexible during this process but sadly, the senior Directors did not want to show us the same respect or courtesy.
It is important to remind ourselves that the senior Directors do not want the recognition of Skyshare or any other union. So we therefore ask you to consider this fact whilst reading company communication about this process.
One more time we would like to repeat that our intention is and has always been to work in a cooperative way with the company. We struggle to understand why they are so opposed to us and are fighting us in front of the CAC. This is particularly intriguing when they say that they were ready for a ballot few weeks ago. This, we feel, displays their true intent of delays and obstruction.
Members can read a summary of the hearing in the members-only section of this website.
Thanks again for your support and your patience.
Skyshare Executive Committee
Last Friday two executive members represented Skyshare at a formal meeting conducted by the Central Arbitration Committee(CAC) in the UK. They were at the meeting to support our petition to enable Skyshare to be your bargaining group in the company. Presenting their opposition to our case were Alec Werner and his legal team. One of the most important parts of that meeting was to establish the territorial aspects of Skyshare. That is, do we have legitimate rights and protections under English law (like our contract states) or not? The company argues that we do not have significant ties to the UK in spite of being employed by NetJets Management Limited, London.
We are now following a highly regulated and legal path as laid down by the CAC. We will know the decision from yesterday’s meeting hopefully by the end of March. Once we have that decision, we will know the next step.
We have had to do this as the voluntary process was not going to be fair or equitable to you all. The company wanted to go outside the legal guidelines stipulated by the CAC. We felt that this was unacceptable and against the spirit of voluntary and harmonious recognition. We have attempted to be fair, generous and flexible during this process but sadly, the senior Directors did not want to show us the same respect or courtesy.
It is important to remind ourselves that the senior Directors do not want the recognition of Skyshare or any other union. So we therefore ask you to consider this fact whilst reading company communication about this process.
One more time we would like to repeat that our intention is and has always been to work in a cooperative way with the company. We struggle to understand why they are so opposed to us and are fighting us in front of the CAC. This is particularly intriguing when they say that they were ready for a ballot few weeks ago. This, we feel, displays their true intent of delays and obstruction.
Members can read a summary of the hearing in the members-only section of this website.
Thanks again for your support and your patience.
Skyshare Executive Committee
17 Feb 2012 17:41 - Update
Dear Colleagues
It is with regret that we have to inform you that NetJets and Skyshare were unable to agree on the terms of a joint recognition ballot.
As you know we have had three meetings with ACAS in London to discuss recognition with the company.
After some initial progress one important point of discussion remained.
This was the question: “What constitutes a win?”. On the face of it this may seem simple. The obvious answer would be “a majority”. However, there have to be provisions that protect against a very low turnout (voter participation).
Let's imagine for a moment that only 20% of those who are entitled to vote do vote. Now let's assume that just over half of those who do vote, are in favour of collective bargaining. This would mean that just over 10% of the bargaining unit would be able to vote a union in.
To prevent such a scenario, the UK CAC has added a second requirement. The first is obviously a majority of all votes received. The second one is a requirement of 40% YES votes received as a percentage of the whole bargaining unit, that means everyone who is entitled to vote. This is not to be confused with 40% turnout or 40% of those who do vote.
As an example, let’s assume: The bargaining unit is 1000 people. 700 people do vote and 380 vote YES. That would be a majority, but less than 40% of the whole bargaining unit. Under the CAC rules that would not be enough for the Union to win recognition. 400 YES-votes would be the minimum.
We have always said that we want both sides to be bound by these rules. They are the ones followed during statutory (forced) recognition, and we don't see why they should not apply to the voluntary process.
The company however insisted that only a 50%+1 YES votes as a percentage of the whole bargaining unit (not as a percentage of votes cast) should constitute a win.
Let's look at our example again: out of 1000 people, 70% do vote, a good turnout. Of those 700 people who do vote, 450 (a clear majority) are in favour of Union recognition. Under the rules proposed by the company, that clear majority would not be sufficient to recognise the Union despite the high turnout.
This is not acceptable for Skyshare. We don't know if management ever intended to conduct a fair ballot but those conditions are not fair. In any democratic election, only the votes cast are counted. Following the company's idea of democracy, neither Merkel, nor Cameron or Sarkozy would be in power today.
Therefore we have today asked our lawyer to inform the CAC that we want to resume the statutory recognition process that had been on hold since last October.
As you know, the company has previously submitted to the CAC that they think our employment is not based in the UK nor anywhere else for this matter and that therefore the UK CAC should not have jurisdiction over this case. For a company that claims to be bound by the highest ethical standards this is surprising to say the least. You can expect to hear about a public CAC hearing on this issue in the near future.
It is important to note that we were willing to meet the company half-way on other issues surrounding the ballot but the company's position on what constitutes a majority remained firm and left us no other choice.
You can expect to read a company communication saying that they were prepared to continue talks through ACAS but this little bit of background info should allow you to put such a statement into perspective. They might also say that if the support for Skyshare was indeed as solid as claimed, we should have agreed to their proposal. I am sure most of you will agree that their idea of democracy would only work if the ballot turnout was 100%, which we all know it will never be.
Please continue to give Skyshare your support during the upcoming CAC process and do let us know if you have any questions or comments.
All the best
Skyshare Executive Committee
It is with regret that we have to inform you that NetJets and Skyshare were unable to agree on the terms of a joint recognition ballot.
As you know we have had three meetings with ACAS in London to discuss recognition with the company.
After some initial progress one important point of discussion remained.
This was the question: “What constitutes a win?”. On the face of it this may seem simple. The obvious answer would be “a majority”. However, there have to be provisions that protect against a very low turnout (voter participation).
Let's imagine for a moment that only 20% of those who are entitled to vote do vote. Now let's assume that just over half of those who do vote, are in favour of collective bargaining. This would mean that just over 10% of the bargaining unit would be able to vote a union in.
To prevent such a scenario, the UK CAC has added a second requirement. The first is obviously a majority of all votes received. The second one is a requirement of 40% YES votes received as a percentage of the whole bargaining unit, that means everyone who is entitled to vote. This is not to be confused with 40% turnout or 40% of those who do vote.
As an example, let’s assume: The bargaining unit is 1000 people. 700 people do vote and 380 vote YES. That would be a majority, but less than 40% of the whole bargaining unit. Under the CAC rules that would not be enough for the Union to win recognition. 400 YES-votes would be the minimum.
We have always said that we want both sides to be bound by these rules. They are the ones followed during statutory (forced) recognition, and we don't see why they should not apply to the voluntary process.
The company however insisted that only a 50%+1 YES votes as a percentage of the whole bargaining unit (not as a percentage of votes cast) should constitute a win.
Let's look at our example again: out of 1000 people, 70% do vote, a good turnout. Of those 700 people who do vote, 450 (a clear majority) are in favour of Union recognition. Under the rules proposed by the company, that clear majority would not be sufficient to recognise the Union despite the high turnout.
This is not acceptable for Skyshare. We don't know if management ever intended to conduct a fair ballot but those conditions are not fair. In any democratic election, only the votes cast are counted. Following the company's idea of democracy, neither Merkel, nor Cameron or Sarkozy would be in power today.
Therefore we have today asked our lawyer to inform the CAC that we want to resume the statutory recognition process that had been on hold since last October.
As you know, the company has previously submitted to the CAC that they think our employment is not based in the UK nor anywhere else for this matter and that therefore the UK CAC should not have jurisdiction over this case. For a company that claims to be bound by the highest ethical standards this is surprising to say the least. You can expect to hear about a public CAC hearing on this issue in the near future.
It is important to note that we were willing to meet the company half-way on other issues surrounding the ballot but the company's position on what constitutes a majority remained firm and left us no other choice.
You can expect to read a company communication saying that they were prepared to continue talks through ACAS but this little bit of background info should allow you to put such a statement into perspective. They might also say that if the support for Skyshare was indeed as solid as claimed, we should have agreed to their proposal. I am sure most of you will agree that their idea of democracy would only work if the ballot turnout was 100%, which we all know it will never be.
Please continue to give Skyshare your support during the upcoming CAC process and do let us know if you have any questions or comments.
All the best
Skyshare Executive Committee
20 Oct 2011 20:26 - Update
Dear Colleagues,
As you know E-mail communications between Skyshare and Management have been somewhat emotional recently. We realise that this is not desirable and have written to our COO suggesting that we start working on restoring the trust that has been damaged in the recent past. We think respectful and truthful communications will be a good first step.
On the 28th of October there will be a CAC hearing in the UK dealing with the company's submission that statutory recognition should not be available to Skyshare because our employment is, in their view, not based in the UK, despite what it says in our employment contracts. Our leagal team is confident that the CAC will disagree and that our application for recognition is admissible.
We will update you on the results and next steps in due course.
Please don't hesitate to contact a member of the team with any questions you might have.
All the best!
Skyshare Executive Committee.
As you know E-mail communications between Skyshare and Management have been somewhat emotional recently. We realise that this is not desirable and have written to our COO suggesting that we start working on restoring the trust that has been damaged in the recent past. We think respectful and truthful communications will be a good first step.
On the 28th of October there will be a CAC hearing in the UK dealing with the company's submission that statutory recognition should not be available to Skyshare because our employment is, in their view, not based in the UK, despite what it says in our employment contracts. Our leagal team is confident that the CAC will disagree and that our application for recognition is admissible.
We will update you on the results and next steps in due course.
Please don't hesitate to contact a member of the team with any questions you might have.
All the best!
Skyshare Executive Committee.
23 Sep 2011 15:37 - Update
Dear Members,
Today we would like to update you on our recognition process.
As you know, we submitted our application for statutory recognition to the CAC on the first of September.
On the 12th of September we received a copy of the response from NetJets Management Ltd.
In their response NJM do not agree with the proposed bargaining unit and try to attack our application form all possible angles.
In a nineteen page document they argue all kinds of points: They say they don't think our membership numbers are accurate, they state that cabin crew should be included in the bargaining unit, they doubt that all members support collective bargaining etc. None of this is new or unexpected.
A new twist however is what they haven't told you in their recent communications. Although we were prepared for this argument we do think it is a scandal:
The company now argues, that the right to apply for recognition under the statutory process does not apply to the pilot's of NJM. They say we are not based in the UK and as a result don't fall under the provisions of the applicable law. They even go as far as saying that we are not based anywhere. Even those with a gateway in the UK are not based there, according to their submission. They state that in fact our employment has little to no connection to the UK because we receive our instructions from Portugal (contrary to what it says in our employment contracts).
We'll let you draw your own conclusions with regards to what kind of management we are dealing with here.
Of course we have responded to all those points to the CAC and we are convinced that statutory recognition must be available to us. Where else would we be able to get collective representation, a fundamental European Human Right? We have also made it clear that our employment contracts make reference to the laws and courts of England and Wales and that NetJets has a rather significant connection to the UK, the country with our largest customer base and home of the city which is our number one destination, London.
Members will be able to download all relevant correspondence from the documents section on www.skyshare.eu.
Please be assured that we will continue to fight for your right to collective representation.
Together we will succeed!
Please don't hesitate to get in touch with any questions or comments you may have.
All the best!
Skyshare Executive Committee
Today we would like to update you on our recognition process.
As you know, we submitted our application for statutory recognition to the CAC on the first of September.
On the 12th of September we received a copy of the response from NetJets Management Ltd.
In their response NJM do not agree with the proposed bargaining unit and try to attack our application form all possible angles.
In a nineteen page document they argue all kinds of points: They say they don't think our membership numbers are accurate, they state that cabin crew should be included in the bargaining unit, they doubt that all members support collective bargaining etc. None of this is new or unexpected.
A new twist however is what they haven't told you in their recent communications. Although we were prepared for this argument we do think it is a scandal:
The company now argues, that the right to apply for recognition under the statutory process does not apply to the pilot's of NJM. They say we are not based in the UK and as a result don't fall under the provisions of the applicable law. They even go as far as saying that we are not based anywhere. Even those with a gateway in the UK are not based there, according to their submission. They state that in fact our employment has little to no connection to the UK because we receive our instructions from Portugal (contrary to what it says in our employment contracts).
We'll let you draw your own conclusions with regards to what kind of management we are dealing with here.
Of course we have responded to all those points to the CAC and we are convinced that statutory recognition must be available to us. Where else would we be able to get collective representation, a fundamental European Human Right? We have also made it clear that our employment contracts make reference to the laws and courts of England and Wales and that NetJets has a rather significant connection to the UK, the country with our largest customer base and home of the city which is our number one destination, London.
Members will be able to download all relevant correspondence from the documents section on www.skyshare.eu.
Please be assured that we will continue to fight for your right to collective representation.
Together we will succeed!
Please don't hesitate to get in touch with any questions or comments you may have.
All the best!
Skyshare Executive Committee
30 Jul 2011 19:15 - Update
Dear friends and colleagues
Today we would like to inform you about our progress and Skyshare's position on the ERS survey.
As you may be aware we had offered management to cooperate on a joint survey that both sides agree on in terms of content, timing and other details.
Unfortunately management have not taken us up on our offer and have once again tried to dictate how to deal with that issue. They did offer to link to this website from Bom Dia and encouraged us to post on NetChats. However, we don't think that's the same as being able to send emails to all employees via the company mail server. This communication disadvantage would no doubt affect the results. The company can make false or misleading statements about Skyshare that we cannot adequately reply to all colleagues.
Management have said it was absurd to not be happy with ERS as the service provider for this survey. The truth is we have never said that we had a problem with ERS. What we do have a problem with is the fact that management are unwilling to work with us rather than against us.
We think the ERS survey is flawed in many ways. In fact the company refers to it as a ballot. Does that mean that it is a vote? That would mean that the results would have to be respected and implemented possibly leading to voluntary recognition of Skyshare. Management have never been clear about what they are intending to do with the results of this ballot/survey.
As you may know there is a legal process for statutory recognition under UK labour law. Basically it involves submitting an application to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) who will determine the membership level within the bargaining unit and will award recognition if it is above 50%. If it is below 50% they initiate a postal ballot. Having said that we fail to understand why management are keen to do their own ballot now. If they were so sure of their claims that we have less than 50% membership, why don't they just wait for the official numbers from the CAC?
Our COO recently wrote that the reason for doing the survey now was to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. While we are also interested in a quick resolution, we think it is wrong to include 152 pilots who are in the process of leaving the company in a ballot of such importance. That's why we are planning to submit our application to the CAC when most of these colleagues have left the company.
In his recent email, our COO makes a number of accusations against Skyshare leadership that we don't want to comment on.
All we are going to say is: Having a union is a fundamental Human Right in Europe. We think that it is important that you can choose your representation rather than having to live with company dictated pseudo-representation in the form of Outreach. It is our understanding that three reps (two crew and one maintenance) have recently resigned from NetJets and/or Outreach. If true, it would be unfortunate that Management have not informed us of this.
The truth is: Managers come and go and so could Outreach. This means that it is very important to safeguard our terms and conditions from being unilaterally changed in the future. A collective bargaining agreement will serve exactly that purpose.
We are presently preparing the Skyshare Union Elections to be held in October. If you want your voice heard and vote counted, you need to be a member.
As always, we would be happy to hear from you with your comments and questions.
The Skyshare Executive Committee.
Today we would like to inform you about our progress and Skyshare's position on the ERS survey.
As you may be aware we had offered management to cooperate on a joint survey that both sides agree on in terms of content, timing and other details.
Unfortunately management have not taken us up on our offer and have once again tried to dictate how to deal with that issue. They did offer to link to this website from Bom Dia and encouraged us to post on NetChats. However, we don't think that's the same as being able to send emails to all employees via the company mail server. This communication disadvantage would no doubt affect the results. The company can make false or misleading statements about Skyshare that we cannot adequately reply to all colleagues.
Management have said it was absurd to not be happy with ERS as the service provider for this survey. The truth is we have never said that we had a problem with ERS. What we do have a problem with is the fact that management are unwilling to work with us rather than against us.
We think the ERS survey is flawed in many ways. In fact the company refers to it as a ballot. Does that mean that it is a vote? That would mean that the results would have to be respected and implemented possibly leading to voluntary recognition of Skyshare. Management have never been clear about what they are intending to do with the results of this ballot/survey.
As you may know there is a legal process for statutory recognition under UK labour law. Basically it involves submitting an application to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) who will determine the membership level within the bargaining unit and will award recognition if it is above 50%. If it is below 50% they initiate a postal ballot. Having said that we fail to understand why management are keen to do their own ballot now. If they were so sure of their claims that we have less than 50% membership, why don't they just wait for the official numbers from the CAC?
Our COO recently wrote that the reason for doing the survey now was to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. While we are also interested in a quick resolution, we think it is wrong to include 152 pilots who are in the process of leaving the company in a ballot of such importance. That's why we are planning to submit our application to the CAC when most of these colleagues have left the company.
In his recent email, our COO makes a number of accusations against Skyshare leadership that we don't want to comment on.
All we are going to say is: Having a union is a fundamental Human Right in Europe. We think that it is important that you can choose your representation rather than having to live with company dictated pseudo-representation in the form of Outreach. It is our understanding that three reps (two crew and one maintenance) have recently resigned from NetJets and/or Outreach. If true, it would be unfortunate that Management have not informed us of this.
The truth is: Managers come and go and so could Outreach. This means that it is very important to safeguard our terms and conditions from being unilaterally changed in the future. A collective bargaining agreement will serve exactly that purpose.
We are presently preparing the Skyshare Union Elections to be held in October. If you want your voice heard and vote counted, you need to be a member.
As always, we would be happy to hear from you with your comments and questions.
The Skyshare Executive Committee.
7 Jun 2011 22:14 - Skyshare receives Certificate of Independence
Dear all
We are glad to be able to announce that Skyshare has been issued a Certificate of Independence by the Certification Office for Trade Unions and Employer's Associations in the UK.
As Mr. Crosland has explained in his email today, this completes the required preliminary steps in order for the Union to seek statutory recognition.
Within the next few days we will formally inform our CEO of our receipt of the Certificate of Independence and make a written request for voluntary recognition.
The next steps will depend on his response to our request but may well include a request to the Central Arbitration Committee in the UK to award recognition under the statutory process.
As always, we will keep you informed throughout this process and remain available for any questions or comments you may have.
All the best from the Skyshare Executive Committe
We are glad to be able to announce that Skyshare has been issued a Certificate of Independence by the Certification Office for Trade Unions and Employer's Associations in the UK.
As Mr. Crosland has explained in his email today, this completes the required preliminary steps in order for the Union to seek statutory recognition.
Within the next few days we will formally inform our CEO of our receipt of the Certificate of Independence and make a written request for voluntary recognition.
The next steps will depend on his response to our request but may well include a request to the Central Arbitration Committee in the UK to award recognition under the statutory process.
As always, we will keep you informed throughout this process and remain available for any questions or comments you may have.
All the best from the Skyshare Executive Committe
