The latest AT drivel
The Weekly Drivel.
Ohhhh, where does one start. The glistening drops of perspiration on Anna’s brow are starting to show, as the desperation to contain the imploding star once known as Cathay Pacific gathers force. The panic is evident in almost every statement. Thing is, it’s already too late. CX management has broken every law of trust that a healthy company relies on. Now, it’s a case of the little Anna that cries wolf. No one believes a word you say. Even sadder still, everyone knows that no matter what promises are made, even if implemented, they can be sure that at some point in their careers they will be arbitrarily taken away. There is no stability or certainty that a rational person could base the faith and trust needed to settle them and their families far from home, in the worlds most expensive city, with no support, a ruthless training and checking regime and a cynical and untrustworthy management. The hopes of a career at CX died, slowly over the past 20+ years. Now, it is a corpse, devoid of life or hope.
So, onto the latest newsletter:
The opening line “…this week has been full of positive news stories..”. Really Anna? Positive for who? Certainly not your aircrew. Nothing positive has happened since the day you arrived. Only a further degradation to our conditions and hopes. You have removed any certainty we once had as to our living arrangements, our hopes for basings, our remuneration, pensions…even our medical coverage. So please, STOP WITH THE CRAP. None of us buy it anymore. In fact, to use the language you do is condescending and insulting.
Even your statement regarding ‘clarity of basings’ actually just adds more uncertainty and doubt for yet ANOTHER YEAR. Oh, I forgot, you are desperately just trying to stop the hemorrhaging of aircrew until you can collect your next bonus and hopefully move onto your next Swire job. Got it. Bases are dead. You know it but don’t have the decency or honesty to admit it.
Cathay’s Cowabunga Cargo:
Looking at that picture, it seems the cows have better accommodation than we do at most of our hotels. Not much else to add.
Update Bases:
Oh, this is good. Say basically nothing, other than to dangle yet another sliver of bait on a stick in front of the more susceptible of our members. Forgetting one thing: most of us have long since concluded that you have killed off basings and are not willing to admit it. Instead, you are happy to have pilots and their families, who joined with the expectation of at least a chance at a base, while away the years in HK, living in overpriced shoe boxes and seeing their financial health, their medical health and their mental health deteriorate. You have sold the pilots a bill of goods, and you still have the nerve to use the issue for your own ends. I’ll be putting up a separate analysis of the specific newsletter on bases shortly. Needless to say, it’s an exercise in cynicism and outright dishonesty.
HKAOA:
When you can agree to negotiate based on facts, honesty and reality, then the AOA can sit down with you. Regardless, the fact that you paid the cabin crew and all the other staff a full 13th month, AND a PAY RAISE means that any talk of concessions is off the table, permanently. In fact, we expect and demand a pay raise for all the hits we have taken over the past few years.
CMP:
When you can accept and honour pilot input to the patterns and overall roster quality (you know, that little ‘quality of life’ aspect that somehow always gets forgotten at CX), then you can crow about CMP. Right now, we ALL see it’s only a way for CX to once again screw the pilots and their families.
Promotions and Resignations:
Hmmm, once again, no mention of the 60+ pilots that have resigned since the beginning of the year. In fact, I know 3 personally who resigned just in the past two weeks, no mention of them either. Sure it’s just an oversight.
Slido Q’s:
Always good fun.
Leave: They comment about the raised levels of sickness. That is all the evidence needed to show that the company is broken. The levels of sickness are well beyond industry norms. That is what happens when you push your crew to the limits of physical, mental and emotional endurance. And that is what CX has done. And it will only get worse, as hundreds of crew are resigning, placing an even bigger burden on those who remain, who are also making plans to leave. The death spiral of Cathay Pacific is now underway. Regardless of ‘leave slots’, most of us just take off the time as and when we need it, because we have NO ability to control our own lives, like we would at nearly every other airline.
Fuel hedging: The only comment that needs highlighting is that CX have now changed to a 2-year hedge period. Oh, you mean like nearly every other major airline in the world? Geniuses. Once again, the evolving facts and policies demonstrate how incompetent our management are. Now they figure it out, after losing BILLIONS of dollars in their juvenile and incompetent waste of the wealth of our airline (and then want to take it out of the pilots pockets!).
CMP: Over a thousand words to try and excuse what is turning into yet another epic CX debacle. You only have to speak to a 747 pilot to realize that it is making their lives WORSE. That is ALL you need to focus on. Instead, we get this extended drivel trying to convince us that the sky isn’t actually blue. Like everything else in this airline, it is broken. The pilots know it is broken, and they are leaving. You have managed to remove what little hope most of us held onto for the future.
With each weekly newsletter, the facts that support most of us making plans to leave become clearer and clearer. The dishonesty and manipulation of this management are no longer hidden from view. At least we can all now realize that the only future for a stable and rewarding career must lie elsewhere. Thank you AT for motivating us to get ourselves and our families to safety. At least you have provided some benefit to us….