Hi Mick:
Also glad to see things are working out for you, but in regards to this statement:
"You guys are SADLY underpaid and would do this industry a great service by walking as I did.
Or you could bury your head in the sand and wait for the shafting."
I have to comment. Dragon was my first choice of expat airlines to work for. I sent them letters and resumes for years, finally I camped on their door step in Hong Kong just to get in and meet with the recruiting ladies. I speak Mandarin Chinese and have substantial experience flying in Asia, yet they considered me unqualified. I believe it is a prejudice against my passport and certificates. Honestly, I don't know what else it could be. They wouldn't even interview me.
So it isn't necessarily easy to just "walk" when you don't like the package. You had the right passport and certificates to "walk". Others also have them to go to Dragon or back to Europe, while some of us don't. We make the best of it here. In the end it isn't that bad of a package. I keep a continuous eye on expat contracts around the world. I compare what I can "save" here versus what I could save doing the other contracts I see. Emirates generally comes out ahead. Management here knows that and they will only keep the package just good enough to beat those other contracts.
Typhoonpilot