A bit more on U.S. CX pay, benefits, rosters
Mark Skid:
Just for clarification: U.S. pilots don't pay for medical benefits. And I don't know of any other based dudes (sorry, I couldn't help it) who have their 15.5% provident fund money invested in Cathay's Provident Fund.
Personally, I invest my 15.5% (and then some) in the U.S. stock market every month. This means I pay taxes on it as income, and I pay taxes again on it when I reap capital gains (or if I'm not as smart as I think I am, I offset my taxes with my capital losses - ouch! I AM a pilot, after all...) The only regular deduction from my paycheck is U.S. federal taxes. I pay estimated state taxes, and no fica, medicare, etc. (although when I end up on the gov't dole in my dotage, I DO plan to collect).
Anyway, the Provident Fund vesting period at Cathay is 10 years. As I understand it, if you leave in year 1, you must return 90% of it to Cathay. Leave in year 2, return 80%. Year 3, 70%, etc... At year 10, you're fully vested, and the money is all yours.
From what I've been able to gather, this is because this 15.5% is WAY ABOVE the minimum Provident Fund contribution in Hong Kong. And I'm really going out on a limb here.... from my research a couple of years ago, I seem to remember that the Provident Fund in Hong Kong is mandatory (that's pronounced man-day-tuh-ree for my fellow unwashed Americans), and portable between employers. So the vesting at Cathay allows you to quit (or be fired), and keep at least the minimum contributions.
The real possibilities of one's sudden dismissal, one's dissatisfaction with Cathay, or one's recall to a better paying job, make "taking the Provident money in cash" a sensible choice - at least for Americans. A bird in the hand, as they say.
By the way, there are many, many sets of "conditions of service" under which pilots work at Cathay. The pilot group is very fragmented in this regard. 404 Titan is in a better position to tell you about his conditions of service in Hong Kong. My point of reference is from USAB freighter conditions of service.
On pay: Sysyphos posted an observation about the pay earlier in this thread, evidently under the impression that the pay is barely a liveable wage in the U.S.
While Cathay is, shall we say, a bit "deliberate" in the area of pay "rises" (don't worry, if you come to CX, you'll discover as an American that your mastery of your mother tongue is a bit lacking), I make a couple of (mainly obvious) points:
1) here in the U.S., we don't pay our mortgage in Pounds Sterling or Euros. We "live on the economy" in U.S. dollars. And first year pay at Cathay has not put me in the poor house. Would I like to make more? Of course. Is my current pay less than 1/2 my pay when I was furloughed from a legacy U.S. carrier? Yes. Am I happy at Cathay? Very happy. By the way, if you're an American thinking about taking a job in Hong Kong, you'd better "do the maths" first, however. Those Benjamins don't go as far abroad as they do here in the U.S. And because the HK dollar is tied to the U.S. dollar, it might not make sense for you.
2) You will make more money at Cathay in your first year (or two) than at almost all U.S. carriers in the first year (or two). After that, one might start looking again at the greener pastures - particularly if Cathay "training" proves not to be fun.
3) My rosters have been fabulous. My "bread and butter month" is 12 days. If I take 2 of my 6 weeks of annual leave in a given month, I'm likely to work anywhere from 3 to 6 days. You should NEVER have to go to HK just for training. This one saves you several days per year in commuting time. They build your recurrent training (RT/PC), Hong Kong medical exams, emergency, CRM training, etc. into your roster. My last RT/PC month was the worst month I've seen at Cathay. As I recall, the trip with the RT/PC was 10 days, and I worked another 5 day trip in that month.
disclaimer: some RPIC rosters and U.S. based command rosters REALLY SUCK. Lots of PX'ing (for you Yanks that's "deadheading"), and lots more work days. As Cathay is basically eliminating the RPIC distinction, that ****e may begin to flow downhill.
Having said all of that, while one may look toward command upgrade as an opportunity to fix the "money problem", the lousy command rosters present another problem. Cathay is nothing if not full of options, however. After 3 years from freighter f/o checkout you can opt to fly on the U.S. passenger fleet as a first officer, killing two birds (scheduling and money, but not the important third, command) with one stone.
baseddude