February 29, 2024
Informational picketing at NetJets is part of midterm negotiations for pay hikes amid the continuing shortage of pilots.
Aviation International News and a local television channel in Palm Beach, Florida, are reporting NetJets pilots have begun holding informational pickets.
“We’re trying to bring awareness to NetJets about how our compensation package is lacking in the industry, as our peers at the airlines are getting more and more lucrative contracts, we are concerned that NetJets will not be able to hire the best quality candidates,” Paulette Gilbert, a vice president with the pilots’ union, told WPTV.
About 250 pilots participated in the picketing in Palm Beach near the NetJets private terminal.
AIN reports the pilots also picketed last weekend in Arizona. They were timed to the Super Bowl and a PGA event being held there.
Speaking to WPTV, Gilbert added, “To be clear, NetJets does not have a hiring problem currently, but they want to double in size, and that means they’re going to have to hire a lot more people. Without being competitive, we don’t think that can happen.”
A statement on the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots website said the companies “voluntarily entered mid-term or interim bargaining.”
The letter from NJASAP President Capt. Pedro Leroux says the union doesn’t want to see NetJets becoming a stepping stone to regional and legacy carriers.
According to the report from Palm Beach, the pilots are not planning any job actions.
In January 2021, pilots ratified revised agreements extending the collective bargaining agreement through the end of 2026.
Even with record-level deliveries of new jets, the fractional operator is sold out for deliveries stretching into 2024.
