UNION: Pilots at Jet Blue overwhelmingly vote to form a union. [View all]

[pnwmom]

So ticket prices will rise -- and they should, if that's what it takes to pay their pilots and other employees a fair wage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/business/pilots-at-jetblue-vote-to-join-a-union.html?hp&_r=0

After twice rejecting bids to unionize since 2009, JetBlue Airways pilots overwhelmingly agreed to be represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, the union said on Tuesday.

Most of JetBlue’s 2,529 pilots participated in the vote, and 71 percent of them voted to join A.L.P.A., the largest pilots’ union in the United States. In a one-sentence statement, JetBlue said it would set up negotiating committees after the National Mediation Board authorizes A.L.P.A. as the representative body for its pilots.

The pilots are the first work group at JetBlue to join a union. It most likely means that JetBlue’s costs will continue to rise in coming years as the pilots’ union seeks better terms for its newest members. Shares of JetBlue fell 1.9 percent on Tuesday, to close at $8.59.

Captain Lee Moak, the union’s president, said that the addition of the JetBlue pilots would “make our union stronger by adding their unified voices to the association’s strong bargaining and advocacy efforts.”

SNIP