To those pondering the Taiwan move.
They send you out an email a few days before you have planned the trip over for an interview etc...........confirming that they want 20,000USD Bank guarantee prior to joining (i.e you pay them 20k cash up front) and they keep it for 4 years commencing from final "check to line", and if you dont like this arrangement then dont come to the interview.
No mention of paying you any ....say... Interest on your money which they keep for at least 4.5 years(assuming your checked to line in 6 months)
No mention of paying you back that money with your salary each month over the 4 years pro-rata.
Not to mention whether or not you actually have a spare 20,000USD floating around just for this occassion.
So the bottom line is this gentlemen,
Firstly, this is a very strange way of conducting employment/recruitment. THEY OBVIOUSLY HAVE SOME SERIOUS ISSUES IN THIS COMPANY.
The salary for a B737NG F/O is US$3300/month Minus 20% tax. I dont know where some of you guys work, but down in Aus. that equates to around AUD$860/week. Thats a net of approx AUD$44000/Year to fly a Blo*dy Boeing 737NG in what I can assume is a demanding environment.... Heck, the guy mowing the lawns at my kids school would be nearly earning that, certainly not a professional Jet Jockey.
Which leads me to the obvious conclusion that the only "Professional Flight Crew" that would take up this glorious offer would be the ones that either cannot fly for sh*t... or rich daddy will fork out the money so little Johnny can go fly the Jets.
(No offence intended to current CAL drivers whome I believe joined with much better employment conditions. My gripe is purely relating to this current pathetic attempt to employ professionals)....its the old saying.... :You pay peanuts....you get monkeys.
But wait there's more..
You will get a whole 8 days annual leave after one year, (WOW)
The contract terms are not fixed and tangeable, every item has the subclause.............."subject to change.....or subject to company policy...or at company discrection".
It would seem these "contract conditions" appear to be the main focus within their Human Resources department, with very little emphasis on the actual candidates ability to be a healthy part of their operation.
I am afraid that my principles and integrity outweigh the ambition to fly jets, at least with this particular operator, and I will pursue other "irons in the fire".
For those that choose to accept this situation, all I can say is... have a really good think about what you are accepting....I know it is a personal decision, but it is certainly not doing the Pilot group as a whole any good with this continual degradation of wages and conditions.
Cheers
SA