Union membership comes with a lot of well-known perks. Unions enjoy higher pay, better job protection, and get to vote on work rules. While pensions have been almost entirely wiped out for most Americans, an incredible 91% of union members will get monthly payments after they stop working.

But, the highlight reels often overlook a seemingly small but actually very critical benefit: time off.

“Time Off” from work is a feature of unionism that is far too often looked down on by American workers. Too often, workers who value their personal and family time are viewed as lazy, selfish, or as lacking commitment to their careers.

The PTO scheme at JetBlue is designed to steal the personal time of Crewmembers at the lowest possible cost. Machinists Union Members have negotiated sick, personal, and vacation time off at rates as much as 300% higher than Ground Operations workers at JetBlue. 

This scheme grants a specified bank of 512 hours a year for ground-based crewmembers to use for time off from work. It sounds like a good idea in theory; JetBlue crewmembers can use their Paid Time Off (PTO) banks in whatever way they want, which sounds okay. However, JetBlue uses PTO to cover virtually all outages – not just vacation and personal time off. Crewmembers who are forced to miss work because they get sick or need to care for a loved one also have to draw pay from their limited PTO banks.

The 500 hours in PTO banks can run out fast. Most workers can’t really use PTO to cover time off until they know how much sick time they will need that year, which is impossible to calculate. While the scheme may sound good in theory, most crew members are afraid to use the hours they have for fear that doing so might leave them with no income while dealing with an unexpected illness.

Like most other labor groups, the Machinists Union always negotiates “sick banks” to cover pay during illness. Having a separate sick bank may sound like a simple policy. But, in practice, union members get 300% more vacation and personal time off than their JetBlue counterparts, a truly astonishing figure. A typical sick bane for unionized ground workers at United is more than double the entire yearly allotment at JetBlue by itself.

Taking time off isn’t selfish. It’s something that unions are still fighting to maintain for American workers. Whether they like it or not, companies do not own the lives of their employees. The pushback does not just include sick banks. The Machinists are also fighting at every major airline to make mandatory overtime much more expensive. Machinists have made carriers pay time and a half, double-time, and double-time and a half pay rates for mandatory overtime. Employers of Machinist Union members tend to think twice before demanding that their workers give up hours of their personal lives because it can get expensive.

Time with family is sacred. Wasted time is not time wasted; employers have no right to workers’ personal time – and companies like JetBlue need to learn this.

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CEO Hayes also stated how JetBlue workers could step up and help out during this time, which is reasonable. He claimed that airline executives would scale down JetBlue’s schedule due to higher fuel prices making specific routes unprofitable. Realistic.

Everyone, including the IAM, wants to see JetBlue be successful. But, how can we protect ourselves during these very uncertain times? What if the financial situation in our industry gets so bad that JetBlue has to declare bankruptcy?

Many airline analysts are forecasting airline bankruptcies. Alarmingly, JetBlue’s poor management style has earned it the dubious title of “worst airline” in America for a range of management failures. What if the industry’s financial condition gets so bad that mergers/acquisitions are the only way the airline can survive? History has shown that airline mergers and acquisitions are more likely to happen during industry downturns. They are also more likely to occur to mismanaged airlines that cannot handle basic scheduling logistics. 

Joining a union is the best way to protect ourselves. Why? Airlines MUST NEGOTIATE with employee unions during the bankruptcy process, and workers have a voice in the outcome. During mergers, airlines are legally required to negotiate seniority rights, wages, benefits, and working conditions with unions. In short, if the worst happens, then having union representation benefits us.

While we hope our industry can make it through these uncertain times, we need to prepare for the alternative. Hoping is not enough. Having IAM representation would go a long way to ensuring that our interests are represented no matter what happens.

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