Agreed Uplock...
To recap: They announce a reviewed pay package which I assume was to stop pilots leaving out the back door and attract more through the front.
Since the announcement: The pay package has been deferred until May (because Ed didn't have the authority in the first place to suggest it would be implimented in January as the 06/07 budget didn't foresee any requirement to attract or keep pilots). When finally implimented in May (perhaps) I assume it will effectively be frozen for the next financial year as the 07/08 budget constraints will again ignore crewing levels and attrition rates.
In addition to the current attempt to keep pilots:
- Duty time has increased, not the virtual one that EK submits to the GCAA, but the actual duty we do on a daily basis in crew transport and post trip.
- Ground school has been offloaded into our free time and will be extended as it 'has been a success' according to 777 Cheif Pilot (as it prevented aircraft being grounded due to 1000s of pilot hours being released for line work). This alone could have funded the payrise.
- Company required visas to be done on our days off.
- If you do work hard and exceed 900 hours, you will be required to do simulator duties.
- In the meantime the airline is unsuccessfully seeking training outside of the company due to the cronic lack of capacity within (not budgeted) as insufficient numbers of EK pilots have applied to become trainers as you can earn more as a line pilot. (I assume this extra cost was not in the 06/07 budget, which will cost the company 2 to 3 times more than keeping training in-house). Regardless this outsourcing will still not prevent aircraft parking very soon.
Almost forgot... jump seat blocked again (TCs decision no doubt).
And the fiddle keeps on playing in EKHQ...