Ed,
"So, an 'A' scale captain based in Hong kong, retiring in a few months time, has these options"
From the last DFO Update :
The Company still has extremely ambitious expansion plans for the next several years and we still wish to retain every pilot beyond the age of 55. We had tried to negotiate a formal change in retirement age so that you would be free to choose your own departure date and you would not have to rely on rolling two-year contract extensions, which, I acknowledge, are less than ideal when it comes to making retirement plans.
From a company perspective we were also keen to cut out By-Pass pay. It costs us close to half a million Hong Kong Dollars per annum for every captain we extend beyond the age of 55, which is beginning to amount to a lot of cash.
The company can extend any captain they want under their existing CoS, it just costs more to do so. The companies plan under CoS08 is to extend Captains at the expense of those officers on the lower ranks.
Great plan for the managers, they save a heap of money by not having to pay "half a million Hong Kong Dollars per annum for every captain" extended, but it does significantly hinder those on the lower ranks from bolstering their provident funds by 15% of their higher grade salary they would normally be entitled to over their career (which turns out to be millions for those on lower ranks), plus the difference in take home pay.
They have chosen not to extend line captains because "For Line Captains, however, we will continue to offer extensions only on the Freighter Fleet as this does not trigger By-Pass Pay."
They are being cheap ("keen to cut out By-Pass pay"), not paying the Captains their CoS they signed up for, and not wanting to pay the lower ranks the bypass pay under the CoS they signed up for.
The simplest solution for the company is to honour the contracts people entered into when they joined the company. Keep everyone happy by paying everyone on the CoS they signed up for (that means extend Line Captains on A scale in the pax fleet), with the deal they signed up for (that means B scale officer would get bypass for every A Captain (not just C&T) extended).
That way everyone can be extended to an unlimited age, to meet the "retain every pilot beyond the age of 55" aim.
Unless the price is right, the company will not have to worry about the "half a million Hong Kong Dollars per annum for every captain", as most people you speak to think they would do another 12-24 months under their current CoS. When busted back to the B scale on the freighter, they leave pretty quick.
The only people who miss out on some profit then is Swire, and the managers bonuses, we have already missed out on our pay raises for years.
Be under no illusion, the people pushing this from the companies viewpoint are doing so for their own greedy end, they are trying to protect/bolster their annual management bonus.
Some numbers for you, Nicholas Peter RHODES total packages in 2005 was 5.289 million, in 2006 5.657 million. This was comprised of a $1.684 million housing benefit, $924,000 contribution into his retirement scheme, and a $1.112 million bonus.
The pilot group received zero increase in base package or retirement scheme since the 90s with no real bonus and a poor performing HK$, and yet he received approximately a 7% increase in his package over 2005/2006 alone.
You don’t get that sort of pay and bonus for going down to the gay bar at lunch time and making small talk with the pilots as the poms are being beaten in the cricket. You get it for shafting the pilot body and returning more money to his employer Swire (Nicholas Peter RHODES, aged 49, has been Director Flight Operations since January 2003. He joined the Swire group in 1980, he is not a Cathay employee).
