The meeting on the 21st Dec was well attended and gave Emirates pilots the opportunity to provide Emirates Flt Ops management with some insight into areas of concern regarding pay, conditions, promotion etc. All insights were gratefully accepted and put under review.
The meeting on the 28th Feb was well attended and gave Emirates Flt Ops management the opportunity to provide Emirates pilots with some insight into areas of concern regarding pay, conditions, promotion etc. The review has concluded that
1. Pay shall remain as is. If pilots want to talk about pay issues in future the management will not attend the meetings. Everyone else has to do overtime and not get paid for it so pilots are already better off than other company employees. Pilots salarys are comparible to other salaries in the area. Name one other airline that pays pilots annual leave. We do not have an official inflation index in the UAE so we cannot increase pay accordingly.
2. Accom allowance shall remain as is. Pilots receive conditions of employment similar to other company employees. We do not discriminate. Only Simulator instructors will receive a pay increase to improve their conditions. Paxing in business class for an F/O on duty travel is still under review, paxing in uniform is mandatory.
3. F/O promotion criteria shall remain as is. Flight time in an Emirates aircraft does not count towards promotional experiance for accelerated command. Because the hours for DEC change regularly a pilot is better off to wait until he can apply for a DEC. Pilots are not assessed on individual merit for promotion out side the inflexible hours requirements. The requirement for DECs will continue and they will be hired as long as they meet the MINIMUM criteria. Once you join as an F/O there are NO PROMOTION guarantees so join only as a DEC. Promises made during the interview are null in void, the only guarantee is the piece of paper you sign as a contract. That contract can change for the next bunch of pilots. Years of Long haul experiance count for nothing. Two seasons in a dodgey Charter Job flying A320 will get you a LHS in an A330/A340-300-500-600. The reality is that on projected figures EK can and will continue to hire Captains from the DEC pool, they need 100 captains total per year and have already hired 45 DECs this year, as such in house F/Os will remain as F/Os for alot longer than three years. Let me say again..... Promises made during the interview are null in void, the only guarantee is the piece of paper you sign as a contract.
We should all be grateful we have a job with Emirates and there are a few thousand applications to prove it.
For those of you who intend to apply to Emirates be advised that there is no one in Emirates management who will address your pilot concerns and no body of people that can stand up for you. Conditions continue to be eroded for succesive new joiners. Training Captains and project pilots are resigning or being forced out. Emirates needs DECs, to ensure that the quantity is achieved irrespective of the quality, and will not promote highly qualified in house pilots.
For those like me who do not read Latin...... Buyer Beware