Some facts for Doug: 1) For employment, airlines require that recruit pilots have an IQ in the top 5% of the population. 2) Their Verbal Comprehension is also assessed and must be at a level similar to Law graduates. 3) Airline pilots are subjected to multiple 'career jepardy' assessment each year that have a pass mark of at lowest 80%. If you fail one of these twice, you are fired. 4)The suite of manuals for the aircraft that I fly (wide-body international) is occupies 2 shelves in my book case (ie about 20,000 pages) and I must be fully conversant with every word of these documents or I could lose my job or be imprisioned. So much for "Bus Drivers"
That is complete bulls***. You are just making your situation more worse off than it is by trying to differentiate your position through those means.
You are not required to have an IQ in the top 5%, nor have verbal comprehension as to a standard of law graduates (and funny how he makes a spelling mistake soon after).
Hero, your post makes sense till you read most of the posts on prune. It's clear most think they are gifted, highly skilled, very intelligent and "Special" individuals. I don't include mesef in that catergory
What a fabulous first impression that Australia makes on international arrivals. Oz customs is bad enough without striking adding more delays.
"Meanwhile, the Transport Workers Union yesterday confirmed Qantas ground crews would participate in work stoppages at all major airports today, including Sydney, from 6-8am and 4-6pm. Customs officers announced late yesterday they were striking at all major airports, with stoppages from 7-8am, 9-10am and 7-9pm in"
So what was Syd/ Melb like this morning? Kaos? 2 hour wait. Oh but thats ok cause the very friendly officer you get after the wait makes it all worth while .
Some pilots have become Prime Ministers, Rajiv Gandhi was an Indian Airlines pilot before becoming PM in 1984. Former Rhodesian PM Ian Smith flew Spitfires in WW2.
How many former Prime Ministers have gone on to become airline pilots ?
How many politicians, PM or otherwise have actually WORKED for a living? Not counting the self-righteous twits who think that poncing around in the halls of power is actually WORKING.
Love hearing from these w@nkers about how they 'understand' the 'man on the street' or 'the man on the land' or - gods help us - the 'battlers'.
School, Uni for a law major and a polisci minor, straight into a political internship or a union 'secretary' gig, line up pre-selection with the party most likely to let em in, for a seat least likely to be strongly contested, score a mindless do-nothing backbench spot for a couple of useless terms then if really clever a front-bench minister of sod-all; retire at 35 or so with snout firmly wedged in the public trough.
Some of the best airline pilots around grew up on a farm and left school at 15. Something to do with common dogf##k and being used to operating machinery.
When I was an FO flying for Ansett, one overnight in Cairns I met Bill O'Chee, then a senator for Queensland, and he had a whinge to me about how I was paid more than he was (which was, just, true in yearly wage terms).
HOWEVER - he was a senator for just 6 years - and "retired" at age 33 with a tax-payer funded, guaranteed a life long, non asset tested pension of nearly $50,000 a year.
With pollies - it's all about the perks, not the pay.
How many politicians, PM or otherwise have actually WORKED for a living?
Can't speak for all of them but the PM was a lawyer. Mainly dealing in employment law for pretty poor workers like cleaners.
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When I was an FO flying for Ansett, one overnight in Cairns I met Bill O'Chee, ...
HOWEVER - he was a senator for just 6 years - and "retired" at age 33 with a tax-payer funded, guaranteed a life long, non asset tested pension of nearly $50,000 a year.
With pollies - it's all about the perks, not the pay.
This used to be the case but Howard took away the pollies super scheme (Latham shamed him into it - a mistake I think but that's a another story). Unless they've been there a while and were in before the changes they're on the same super scheme as all other public servants.
I don't want my politicians paid badly - I want people who are actually good who want to do the job. Imagine if we paid enough to have top 100 CEOs as our Ministers or highly successful sportspeople or any real experts in their fields, the kind of people we'd get?
By the same token, I want the guy up the front of the 737 I spend a lot of time in to get paid for his or her level of responsibility, which is huge. And at the moment that sure ain't happening either.
By the same token, I want the guy up the front of the 737 I spend a lot of time in to get paid for his or her level of responsibility, which is huge. And at the moment that sure ain't happening either.
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Oh what a terrible shame..- only getting 230K a year on average for 737. "For his/her level of responsibility" should be getting a absolute minimum of $500K plus perks
'Why the disparity' AnQrKa? Because you get what you NEGOTIATE!
You guys had an 80 year advantage over the folks in red (well, off-white these days) to negotiate better pay. Ok, they didn't have unions back when crossing the outback in singles was the way to go, but you get the idea. Other airlines can't suddently negotiate a 200% pay rise because they are good negotiators - it takes a long time to build to the level the legacy airline pilots enjoy.
Like it or not, many (not all) QF pilots understand they are overpaid and are fighting to protect the lifestyle they enjoy. I would too. But come on, the amount of money a SO gets to sit in the back - no wonder Joyce is fighting you. I don't agree with the way he has gone about it, or most of his strategies, but most of you need a reality check!
Don't start the crap about you get what you negotiate. Your pay rates come from an era where air travel was more exclusive and expensive, and not enjoyed by the bogans that frequent JQ these days. Since then you've negotiated slight pay increases to enjoy the salary you enjoy today.
FTS, I don't see that QF pilots are overpaid. The nature of the job is taxing by any measure. How many jobs expect the crew to be availbale to be rostered away from home 24/7/365? In the last 21 years, I have had 7 Christmas's at home and I had to fly on 2 of these, which took the enjoyment out of the day. How many birthdays, dance recitals, award nights, sporting finals, first day at school, wedding anniversaries etc, etc ect do pilots miss out on during their career? We also must retire if we lose our medical certificate. We die younger. How can we be compensated for these factors. Oh yes, we also sit on about $1,000,000,000+ of liability if we crash. No to mention the lives of anywhere up to 560 people. If we worked at a business that was worth this much and employed the same number of people, how much would the CEO, the COO and the GM earn. let me guess: CEO ~ $600K+, the COO ~ $400K+ and the GM ~ $250K+ ??
I recon that the QF pilots are about on 'market' rates for their efforts
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