Just to add to the above this leads to another thing. Nearly all the Pilots involved in a previously successful recruitment program have quit including both managers, The previous and very capable manager for pilot recruitment has been sidelined. You can form your own speculation as to why this has happened!
My own conjecture is that anybody you meet in a recruitment session now will still strive to get the best people they can "GET" They will also mislead to assist your decision that your career is best served by coming here. Once you’re in they don’t give a !!!! because you work somewhere else and focus on duping the next poor sod.
The whole DEC thing is a fabrication, we have guys with 10,000 hours here nearly all on heavy / medium equipment many of which had extensive training and worldwide experience which they will not upgrade. They do this to favor a guy with 4000 commercial hours experience only 10,000 total and 3500+ PIC hrs in a low cost on a 737-300 (4 Yrs) doing domestic and short haul, they then give them a full conversion on the worlds heaviest twin Jet, put them in the seat with a 400 Hr cadet who knows more about the aircraft than they do by a considerable margin, with more worldwide experience and the Cadet can in fact spell ETOPS unlike the newly appointed DEC. An extreme but it has been happening and getting covered up. (Sorry no wish to offend our more qualified DEC's but you know its true in some cases too)
This is apparently in the name of safety!
The reality is EK have had a lot of close shaves, the current management attitude is pushing that to a potential disaster day by day, fatigue is common place, the much vaunted fatigue monitoring system has been dumped, and training gets more mediocre daily. 1000 + pilots know it but a few guys with less than PPL experience have decided otherwise !
Here's what’s been dumped since I was here (Not Long)
1 Accelerated Command
2 Transitional Upgrades
3 The Seniority System Totally
4 Preferential Bidding (Yes they say we have a system but it don’t work anymore with numerous manual insertions) so if you bid 7 days off to get home they will give you a 1 Hr return sector in the middle so you can not get away. By order of the EVP Engineering and Operations.
5 Any form of Maternity care for your wife (if you have one) for the first two years, this includes birth, miscarriage etc etc. If you get married here your new wife will not be covered for two years after your married regardless of how long you have been in the company.
6 Health insurance for any newborn child for the first two weeks of its life, regardless length of service, (if it’s ill, pay for the first two weeks, if its premature that will cost you your monthly salary every two weeks to keep your child alive, Then whatever’s wrong will be excluded permanently from the cover) Of course you can go to the local hospital with a health card but be prepared for very third world medicine ! Or go home and ask for the time off not likely ! and you thought you had left the military
7 Credit Scheme for remuneration, the recent assurances that the level of reserves will not be increased has in December’s roster been shown to be a lie.
8 Augmented (Rest Hours in The Bunk) do not count towards your hourly max of 100 Hrs, they can and will roster you 150 Hrs flying per month.
9. One years continuous service to be eligible to participate in profit share, (new joiners don’t worry as this year the profit targets were raised ludicrously high in a deliberate attempt to reduce the profit share if there is any)
10 Housing the standard of housing is getting dreadful and it is rumored we will be soon paying our own utilities, don’t believe in rumors points; 1 through 9 were all rumors before they happened FACT.
So when you come for your interview ask the team about the above, don’t be shy, the answers they give you may stop you making an awful mistake. Also ask them if this has happened in such a short period when the company is making record profits, what do they expect the company to do in leaner times ?
Also ask them to look at the corporate ORg chart for flight Ops. You will see the EVP Flight Operations has no fewer than 12 Positions under him, 11 are engineering related the single operations one (us) is Vacant ! that might give you some idea of how the management view us.
And DEC’s remember if they ever have to lay off you are very very junior, The FO’s behind you will be much more senior and be paid less than you when if they get a command. Just think who our loving management will be throwing out the door first.
Finally a note about the much vaunted provident scheme.
UAE Law states That an Employer Must pay to every salaried employee after 12 months in a company (Bus driver/cleaner/pilot) an end of service benefit:-
ESB (End of Service Benefit)
21 days basic salary for the fist 3 Yrs service = 6%
30 days salary for every year thereafter = 8%
Ek’s Provident Fund (which you have to join) provides
First 10 Yrs 12% of basic salary
Next 10 Yrs 15% of basic salary
As you see Ek only provide above law what they would otherwise have to give 6% year 1-3, 4% year 3-10 and 7% yr 10 onwards. If you’re provident fund does not perform well, and the amount you would get from your ESB is higher than you get from your provident you get the ESB. But you have had to provide over 60% of the money which EK would have had to give you anyway with your own 5% contribution.
PS also consulted lawyer at home, EK have by all definition altered your contract of employment regardless of if the terms were part of the actual contract you signed or not. These terms (productivity Pay) were presented to you by EK and as far as my home Law is concerned the unilateral change is enough to be considered breach of contract. While you have no redress under UAE law any law suite filed against you in your home country for recovery of the Bond by EK will probably fail. You will have no redress against EK as your contract is governed by UAE law. This of course depends on your home country.
The advice of the employment lawyer was do your overnight don’t come back and say goodbye to your ESB.
EK You Decide!