Originally Posted by
Tea time
The problem is ,as someone else correctly pointed out ,that by accepting a lower standard of COS the newjoiners inadvertently reinforce the management belief that the salary is too high . Back in the 80;s and early 90’s Cathay was the airline that everyone aspired to join , competition to get in was fierce and the selection process was tough. If you were lucky enough to get in, the job was great, salaries were good, COS were very adequate and the company looked after you, so no one complained and the crew were always happy to go the extra mile without being asked. It was a winning formula .
Then about 1997 the accountants got involved with senior management on how to save a few bucks , the easy target was the pilot’s salaries. There was a already a degree of jealousy from the non aviation part of the company who saw us as overpaid , underworked prima donnas , this was quietly endorsed by senior management because they never tried to quash the underlying impression.
I remember going to focus nights put on by the company where it was espoused that if we didn’t accept pay and COS cuts the company was going to go bust. This was the beginning of the industrial dispute that continues to this day .
COS 99 was imposed on the workforce with sign or be fired , then came ASL followed by B scales , people who joined on B scales and I’m not pointing fingers or blaming anyone for doing so ,sealed the fate of the original pay scales which then became known as A scales. From this point on it’s been a downward trend of COS cuts , leave reduced , flying hours increased, overtime reduced , medical cover reduced , housing reduced , the list goes on and on . Yet management managed to squander $4 plus billion on a lousy fuel hedge and no one is called to account , so I have to ponder who was on the other side of the fuel hedge .
Then came C scales and finally COS 18 , so again if pilots join on COS 18 it will erode B scales even further .
What I am trying to point out is that none of the comments are truly racist, that term is a slight used frequently by the left when they cannot win an argument using logic and want to shut someone up .
It’s about pilots from other parts of the world be it South America, South Africa , South Asia who find themselves living in worse conditions than the perceived conditions offered by Cathay, and who are willing to take the offer not fully realising that by doing so they are degrading the COS of those pilots already employed .
This creates a natural resentment towards these new hires fostered by many years of industrial unrest , hence some of the comments here.
May I wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and New Year , I look forward to contributing in 2019
Tea time, I reckon you are on the money. But, during your time in the '80s, there weren't as many pilots as there are now. Demand exceeded supply and hence, your package was enviably better. These days, there are countless flight 'schools' all over the planet, which are churning pilots on a regular basis. Consequently, supply has exceeded demand which has inevitably led to the degradation of T&Cs at virtually all airlines, not just at CX.
Had there been an endless supply of pilots back in the '80s like there is now, you would have seen CoS 18 back in the '80s itself!
Merry Christmas and happy 2019!