Haven't had a chance to post for a while but thought I would give my 2 cents worth on the issue of working days off.
Personally I have not flown a single day off or allowed rostering to make a single change to my roster in over 2 years. Part of the reason is the bull$hit "cost neutral" changes to the terms and conditions of our contract along with insufficient compensation for the industry leading productivity (and profits) we provide to this company; part is my disgust for how the management have totally dropped the ball on pilot career management within EK (f/o upgrades, DEC's, seniority, etc); part is a recognition that the current situation we are in with respect to pilot manning levels was planned at the highest levels and they are now expecting us to cover up for their incompetence; and part is nothing more than a survival instinct in that if I have to be with this organization for "x" number of years I need to pace myself to not become another EK medical statistic.
For the life of me I have a really hard time understanding why guys would give up a day off for the pittance the company gives you. Perhaps those who are blinded by the "incredible" amount of money the company offers will be interested in this:
The total amount of flying you are contracted to complete in a given year is 815 hours/year. This is derived as follows:
-7 months x 78 hours/month (546 hours), 4 months x 76 hours/month (304 hours), and 1 month x 70 hours/month (70 hours) = 920 hours/year. Subtract your contractual leave of 42 days x 2.5 hours/day (105 hours) and you are left with a contractual requirement to fly 815 hours/year.
Now take an example of a Captain (step 17; approx 7 years at EK) making 29510/month (all math based upon the old scales). His yearly salary is 354120 dhs. If you do the math the contractual hourly rate is 434.50 dhs/hour. Given this number it is absolutely no surprise that the company has decided to work each pilot into as much overtime as possible (up to the max of 900 hours if possible) because it costs them peanuts. At an overtime rate of 400 dhs/hour this pilot is working for 34.50 dhs/hour ($9.38/hour) above his contractual hourly rate. My son working part time at MacDonald’s on weekends makes almost as much as I do working overtime for this company! Any wonder why I refuse to do it?
We know that in the past the company would build a roster to the contractual limit (78/76/70 hours/month) and then rely on crew scheduling to fill the unassigned flying via phone calls to pilots requesting them to work overtime on days off. When that started to prove unsuccessful, they switched to compulsory overtime built into every roster. However even with this change there still is unassigned flights daily.
As a consequence of the mismanagement of the manning levels, the new plan is for Capt. Ed to email us with the unassigned flights and hope we will fall over ourselves volunteering to fly them? But wait, didn't they increase the overtime by 15.4%? Shouldn't I be speed dialing crew scheduling to get those juicy overtime hours on my day off?? Oh good, now I can do some new math with the new numbers. Same Captain now makes 7% more with the pay rise (31575/month or 378900/year). Divided by 815 = 464.90/hour. New overtime rate 460/hour............lets see.....now I get to go and work overtime on my day off and I am getting 4.90 dhs LESS than my contractual rate.
Bottom line is I refuse to work days off under this sort of scheme. If Capt Ed wants to pay me what my son gets for working overtime at MacDonald’s (time and a half; double time on statutory holidays) then I might consider it. Until then I will leave it to the suckers in this company to further prostitute themselves in the belief that the greater good of Emirates is worth their health, marriages and families.
Cheers