Qatarpilot,
Thank you for the enlightening post…..I was wondering how long it would take before anyone would make a posting about our nice meeting with « the » management.
As clearly explained before, Qr finally offered its staff a pay rise. There had been no fundamental package increase since 1997, except the special A320 allowance.
I agree, it is a step in the good direction. It really is…It clearly shows a sign that our management is willing to accept a mentality change, they acknowledge the fact that something is wrong and that it had to be dealt with.
So don’t get me wrong, I am grateful and I appreciate the gesture. But there are some reflections to be made here because it is not all as positive as they want us to believe ;….
A pilot with children on the A33O fleet did win about 24% in salary, a copilot on the A320 saw an increase of only 11%.
Reason is that the special allowances that 320 crews had ( due to the fact that they had less layovers) was withdrawn.
So again this is a package designed by and for the astronauts that are « chosen » to fly the A330. The guys flying the A300 take some profit as well and they deserve it but the ones being left out are the « babybus » drivers….And this while they suffer the most ! More about this later …
The really weak parts of this salary increase are schooling and housing allowances. Schooling is still insufficient and regarding the housing allowance …well…Doha would not be Doha if all the rich guys would not play the same game…already some landlords have increased their rents because they knew that QR was increasing the housing allowance !
Another thing…we now have a yearly increment which is a good thing ! It really is and lets hope it will make people more loyal. The big insult here is the fact that everybody starts at the same step now being level 1. So people who have been with us since the beginning of QR are not at all rewarded for their loyalty.
The big HR guru R.M. gave as an explanation that this would be too difficult to implement in the accounting system…I would say here….BS ! How difficult can this be because they are going to have to implement those steps anyway….
The whole package is clearly designed by our SIA friend, the famous « I have no clue » advisor to the CEO, Mr M.D. He came walsing in here about a year ago and ever since then morale has gone down at an incredible rate. This man, who claims to be a retired SIA B747 captain, is reliving his success « horror » story that he designed several years ago at SIA.
This man, who does not have any idea about what a right crew index on a 320 fleet should be, who ha no experience whatsoever with a JAA controlled carrier and who thinks that performance is holier then god himself, is making a huge salary here for working two weeks in 4. He somehow gained the confidence of the management and now the do anything he says.
So he designed the package, together with the guru. That is why the whole thing is based on performance. He wanted people on the 320 to fly an average of 90H/mth, people refused so what did he do, he designed a package where nothing is rewarded more then flying hours….result, people will fly themselves to death for a few pennies more. You have to know that most of the QR flights are night flying and long/demanding sectors. Days with 12H duty are the rule and back to the clocks as well.
In the new package there is no monthly flat rate and no fixed fly pay. So if you want to make money you need to fly because all prestation is paid per scheduled block hour. 70QR as FO and 100QR/Hr as a captain. The only monthly limit you have is the 100Hrs a month given by the CAA.
There is an overtime pay of 300QR/hrs but based on a yearly average. You have to fly 780Hrs a year to get this extra and they count from april march. Strangely enough the whole package is designed around an average amount of flying hours of 720hrs….So 60 hrs disappeared. To me that means the system is designed around 780hrs !!!
Another reflection here should be that no sign whatsoever is given to rostering to limit the monthly duty time. It is technically possible to fly you closely to100hrs a month for 9 months in arrow without paying you any overtime. The other 3 months you fly low hours but the 9 months before will be enough to virtually kill you !!!!
And its all legal !
We have a famous Indian mafia running our rostering department. (They are on no-speaking terms with the Pakistani mob in scheduling but that is another story). Because everything is based on performance it is of crucial importance that all rosters are equally balanced. They where not capable of doing that now and I doubt it very much if they would be able of doing that now ! Probably the opposite is going to happen, those who are willing to stay on good terms with them ( whatever that may take…) will get good rosters with nice long flights and a lot of block hours…The others…well…leftovers !
The number of days on leave where reduced from 45 to 43 which still is acceptable…
This week a rumor started that no more swaps or requests will be accepted by rostering !! One of the biggest problems at QR is that mngmnt changes policies just like that. From one day to the other they will take away a right from you without asking.
Now you might think…what a fuss for something small. Please think about the low morale then…People where allowed ONE swap or request/month. It gave you the possibility to take care of certain stuff etc….With this gone there is no way you can plan anything anymore because your roster, including off days, changes every day as well…
So now there is the feeling « they gave us a little something and now they think they can take away anything they want »….
And this is not the only changed policy :
• Command upgrades changed from 4000 to 5000hrs AND you need to have three years in the company
• 4 days off in a row all of a sudden became totally impossible
• Fleet transfers where impossible because one CP wanted fleet stability
• There would be no direct entries on 330…..nowadays all we see are DE on the 330 fleet leaving no position available to the own pilots
• Now we are even hiring contract pilots on 330 that are paid 1/3 more then the « own » pilots
• Etc
All these policies where changed from one moment to another, leaving the crews behind without any additional information….
Lack of information and disappointed people is an excellent feeding ground for frustration , gossiping and extremely low morale….and that is exactly what happened !
This management has no clue what communication means, how to keep a workforce happy etc…It does not take a salary increase to accomplish that, the only thing you need is a clear and transparent communication strategy, a policy where you treat the workforce with respect and not like ten year olds…
Maybe that is too complicated for R.M / M.D. and all the stars and stripes in the technical building….
Wake up guys……
PS I hope people do not think that this new package will be enough to keep people here…By far its insufficient. Not because of the money but because of the way people are treated here. If you want to people like slaves you have to pay them like a king!! Now we have something in between….That Mr AB is why we did not give you an applause at the Sheraton!
PS2 The comparison between QR and EK and the statement that EK pilots would now want to come to QR…..Who the H**** came up with that? I can only accept this as an attack of whish full thinking and delirium !!!!!.
To keep it simple…An EK captain makes the same amount of money as a QR captain but….on top of that he will get a house worth 14000QR on the Doha market, 30000Dhs furniture allowance, full medical coverage, full schooling allowance, profit sharing which will be worth 3 months salary this year, a LOL of 4 times bigger value than the semi LOL here at QR, a provident fund, interest free car loans, numerous discounts in leisure clubs all over Dubai etc etc etc….
On top of that EK is revising its package this year as well so…..we are FAR FAR FAR off…..
Last edited by Yanni; 2nd Feb 2004 at 21:59.