Herewith Part 1 of a copy of a letter to management: (Part 2 in the next thread as these threads are limited to 12,500 characters) -
QUOTE:
29th July, 2004
REF: Safety Bonus & Foreign Crew Recognition.
Dear Sir,
We the Korean Air foreign pilots would appreciate if you could kindly enlighten us as to our status within the company.
Recently Korean Air announced the presentation of a Safety Bonus for all Korean Air staff and, once again for unknown reasons, the foreign pilots who are instrumental and possibly the largest contributors to Korean Air flight safety were excluded from this program.
We understand that the Safety Bonus is presented when the set safety target is met during a twelve- month period. All Korean staff (even the one’s who spend their entire working period behind a desk firmly anchored to the office floor at various Korean Air buildings) are eligible for this bonus, yet the foreign pilots who are at the forefront of this company’s daily flight operations are totally excluded from this program!
We are all baffled and amazed at this unexplained exclusion and are unable to come to any practical or intelligent conclusion in regards to this unacceptable decision by the Korean Air Flight management.
We feel that our exclusion could be due to one of the following reasons;
• Foreign pilots are considered to be highly professional, competent and flight safety is ingrained in our approach to duty and therefore undeserving of any recognition or reward;
• Foreign pilots are considered to be unsafe and incompetent and no amount of reward or incentive is likely to change our attitude or improve our approach to flight safety;
• And / Or the formula devised to calculate the safety bonus was specifically designed to exclude the foreign Captains, as their contribution to flight safety is considered to be insignificant.
The Flight Operations department has to accept an inviolable fact that the foreign Captains, who are from varying and diverse background, freely impart their experience and knowledge (without any monetary or other reward) by teaching and discussing many aviation related issues with Korean Air’s future Captains (i.e. your current First Officers).
This will prove to be an invaluable asset in the future and in reality no monetary value can be assigned to this generous and voluntary attitude of the foreign pilots in Korean Air. Additionally most of the Korean First Officers maintain their flight currency due to the positive attitude and approach of the foreign Captains.
One other fact that cannot be ignored is that over the years our experience, professionalism and approach to flight procedures have made substantial contribution to the bottom line of Korean Air’s balance sheet by substantially reducing fuel consumption, maintenance cost (reduced flight time) and possibly reducing insurance premiums.
UNQUOTE
Part 2 follows:
PART 2:
QUOTE:
Astoundingly, once again Korean Air Flight Operations management is requesting the foreign pilots to cooperate in anticipation of the forthcoming industrial dispute with the FCU and yet unashamedly the following points have never been given due consideration:
• Our per diem rate has not been reviewed for an unacceptably long period;
• Unilateral changes to our contract continue unabated, without any personal and legal considerations or consultations;
• Foreign pilots are required to personally finance any and all transition training costs with no program or recourse to recoup this high cost;
• Loss of previously awarded pay increment (annual CPI adjustment) on transition to another fleet (this is yet another example of the unethical manner in which Korean Air management conducts it affairs with the unrepresented foreign pilots);
• Frequent pay reductions are implemented and the demand for acceptance of these pay-cuts is accompanied with implicit threat of redundancy;
• Boeing 744 foreign Captains were forced to accept four days unpaid leave during the last SAR’s epidemic without any explanation or negotiations;
• Recent illegal suspension of a foreign pilot without pay while his case was under USA TSA department review.
Flight operations department has also failed to establish and implement a firm and fair policy on transition training program, to date three differing policies have been applied;
• Foreign pilots offered full conversion training by Korean Air, trainee required to repay the cost of training over a period of two years. Hotel accommodation and per diem paid in full during the training period and trainee on full pay for the duration of the training period.
• Foreign pilots instructed to outsource conversion training and personally finance the cost. No accommodation or per diem cost assistance offered, trainee on full pay for the duration of training period.
• Foreign pilots instructed to outsource conversion training and personally finance the cost. No accommodation or per diem cost assistance offered, and informed to accumulate days off or apply for leave for the duration of the training period (i.e. 28 days without pay)! This last policy is the worst case scenario for the trainee in terms of long duration of absence from home and loss on 28 days pay.
From the above mentioned facts, it is quite clear that training policies are unfair, inconsistent and applied impulsively.
Korean Air Flight Operations management clearly lacks professional, ethical and acceptable standards when it comes to establishing and implementing rules and regulations applicable to its foreign pilot workforce.
We would like to take this opportunity to refresh the memory of Korean Air Flight Operations management by emphasizing a few points (among many others) of our contribution to Korean Air:
Acceptance of 10% pay-cut for one year, during the 1997 economic downturn in Asia;
Forced pay-cut (imposed on foreign crew only) for a period of 10 months in the aftermath of 9/11 terrorist attacks in USA. This was implemented as a result of Korean Air management’s perception that a major downturn would occur in business travel. In reality Korean Air had record bookings and made record profits in the same 10-month period in which this pay-cut applied;
Four days forced unpaid leave imposed on B744 fleet foreign Captains only, during the last SAR’s epidemic outbreak;
Support to flight operations during the last three industrial disputes that Korean Air experienced with the FCU. This support was burdensome on the family members of the foreign crew, as family plans were disrupted by cancellation and changes to previously planned days off or vacation.
To date none of these contributions have been recognised in any form by the Korean Air management, in particular by the Flight Operations department. It is obvious that Korean Air management policies do not take into consideration or reward the industries’ most valued aspects of dedication, commitment and long term service.
Korean Air managements continued tolerance of employing the services of unprofessional, self-serving and unqualified human resource agencies is of a major concern to all the foreign pilots, these agencies are not concerned about the wellbeing of the company nor the pilots. The agencies rarely take into account the welfare of the pilots and are invariably late in responding to all important queries and issues.
Most of the agencies are owned and run by ex-pilots or people from various other background who have no professional qualification or training in Human Resource management, additionally many of the agencies are registered on off-shore third world islands (e.g. Vanuatu etc) where the transparency of the legal system is at best questionable, the company (agency) structure is specifically designed to enable these agencies to cover up any unilateral and illegal actions and to avoid the possibility of defending any legitimate litigations.
We respectfully request the company to monitor the activities of the agencies and ensure that the agents conduct their business and dealings with pilots in an legal, professional and acceptable frame work and do not engage in any illegal (they have delayed salary payment or retained the salary all together without any notice or negotiations and the agents must forced to pay the salary on time, that means the money should be deposited into the pilots account by the last day of the month), threatening or bullying tactics.
The foreign pilots appreciate the meetings with Capt. Lee Young-Duck, but have some reservations as to the real purpose of these meetings; we have had three meetings with Capt. Lee Young-Duck in the Hyatt Hotel crew lounge and have raised many issue regarding our personal contracts, safety, procedural and improvements in productivity and flight economics. But to date, we have not been informed or noticed any changes as a result of these suggestions. We therefore wonder whether these meetings are just a
PR exercise as a part of Capt. Lee Young-Duck’s management plan or if either party is ever going to benefit from exchange of views at these meetings.
During the last general meeting with Capt. Lee Young-Duck in the Hyatt Hotel, the foreign pilots raised the issue regarding the possibility of being included in Korean Air Safety Bonus scheme, refund of 10% salary implemented in the aftermath of 9/11 attacks, review of our per diem rate and reconsideration on the highly contagious and unethical issue relating to unilateral changes to our contract (among many other issues). Unfortunately Capt. Lee Young-Duck, as a senior member of Korean Air Flight Operations team, was at loss of words and failed to respond in any positive and acceptable manner (maybe he was unprepared and did not expect this issue to be raised). The Foreign Pilots deserve a more qualified, positive and an honest response from the senior management.
Surging oil prices to record levels in the world market, combined with lack in implementation and establishment of any practical, realistic procedures or policy by Korean Air management to conserve or reduce unacceptably (by industry standards) high fuel consumption is of real concern to the foreign pilot workforce.
Long established operating procedures (poor flight procedures, skills and training, early release of CFP results in unrealistic flight operating data and no practical procedure in place to update actual operating weights in timely manner) result in uneconomical and wasteful operating environment.
We suspect that this unchecked and uneconomical fuel consumption (resulting in high operating costs and reduced profits) will once again provide Korean Air management an excuse to target the foreign pilots (exclusively) for another pay-cut.
A continued autocratic approach in handling changes to our contracts is unacceptable and in many circumstances illegal. This unethical process needs to succumb and all previous unilateral changes require immediate review.
If the contract review process remains unconstrained and one-sided we will be forced to seek legal advice on the possibility and legality of forming a labour union in Korea to represent the foreign pilots.
We understand that recent legislative changes in the Korean labour law, specifically those relating to foreign workers, now provide a legal framework for foreign workers to form a representative labour union within Korean laws.
Under the aforementioned circumstances, we are all rather astonished at the audacity of Korean Air flight operations department’s request for and expecting our full, indisputable support and cooperation. It is baffling that Korean Air is now requesting full support from the very group of employees that have been penalised in an arbitrary manner and treated with disrespect bordering on contempt.
The current atmosphere among the foreign pilots is highly charged due to fact that all of the above mentioned issues remain unresolved, plus the concerns regarding the safety aspect (most serious events and accidents occur when two Captains are crewed to operate together) and legality of right seat operations in the event of a strike by FCU.
Respectfully,
Korean Air, Foreign Captains.
UNQUOTE