God !! I did not realise how frustrating this would be, but here I go repeating the same
again.
1) It does'nt matter weather I ( and other non-chinese HK inhabitants ) get a bloody perm ID card, a key to the city and a ticker tape parade, MY FAMILY, MY FRIENDS ( some of which I have known for 25 years ), MY CLEAN AIR AND MY WIDE OPEN SPACES WILL
NEVER BE HERE IN HONG KONG, wether I spend 7 or 70 years here, nor will the relative peace and quiet I enjoy at home as I sit here listening to the HK anthem....Hammer drills, jack hammers and some idiot sneezing at the top of his voice probably from breathing in concrete dust.
I am not prepared to live out in the New Territories in a high rise 600' apartment for the privilege of all of the above, not when I had a Jet command, a 2500sq ft house on a 5000' block of dirt ( which I owned, not the govt ) and not a bloody hi rise in sight.
Does anyone here really expect us to give that up for nothing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2) The argument about getting housing on a base ( which does not apply to KA anymore and that was originally what this thread was about, a KA pilot complained to the SCMP ) is a MOOT point, if you had the right of abode in Oz or Pommy land, or Europe, then you would probably have a EU or OZ passport, and unfortunately ( not my fault ) CX would just play the same cards. It needs to be added at this point that none of the guys on a base get ANY allowances, alot of those guys are not living in their home country either.
3) I am afraid I have to agree with Trev, the local guys ( sorry about the offensive " local " terminology ) are very quiet when it comes to any industrial action, in spite of this, the Gweilo DPA have managed to get some extra allowances for the local guys, this of course goes completely unmentioned in the one sided SCMP article. I would have thought that was a royal kick in the guts for the DPA guys.
4) You can't go calling the AOA racist or discriminatory, they have done absolutely
all for any CX pilots, and that is unlikely to change any time soon.
5) HKID,HKID, HKI
D, it does not matter, we are not from here, we essentially do not wan't to be here, not because as I am sure it will be or has been suggested, we are racists, WE JUST LIKE OUR HOME for better or worse.
6) In Oz, and I can only speak for Oz, as a resident and taxpayer you are entitled to ( not after 7 years !! ) ALL benefits, the same as a person born there, Education, Medical ( the public medical craps on HK ), even unemployment benefits, yes thats right, we don't kick you out of the country when you lose your job, so who's country is racist and discriminatory ??? I think I will lobby for all expats to get full local benefits from day 1.
Now hands up how many of you local guys are with me on that one........Yep, thought so.
About as much chance of changing that as of getting CX and KA to pay locals expat benefits....Buckleys.
Signal8, how is Trevfly a racist ? What he said actually happened, so once again who is discriminating ? Facts, not emotive rubbish comments.
Sirhcttarp, Mate, Mate, Mate, I live in a nice part of HK in a nice large flat by HK standards, apart from sucking in the crap in the air I am still living at about 50% of the " superior " conditions I enjoyed at home. I take it you think I should live in another country in even worse conditions still, that's nice and non discriminatory.
Mullah, if you think cadets, initially, are held to the same standards as direct entries then you are smoking way too much crack, and on that subject, Cadets are not equal in that they are not eligible for command, under KA guidelines for around 7 years ( 7yrs x 700 hrs ) whereas a direct entry pilot is usually eligible after a year.
A guaranteed job when you complete your training: The only time that the job becomes a guaranteed offer is after we come back to HKG to sign the CX contract which then gives us a seniority number. Completion of the cadet course is in itself not a guarantee of employment. It's interesting to note that DE guys sign and receive seniority + pay before heading down to ADL to complete JTS and their CAD exams. Locals have to pass everything first. Another slight difference to note, and not in the locals favour either.
Mullah, you complain that some of your questions are not answered and happily skip over the fact that Cadets have ZERO financial risk, OK they may not have a gauranteed job but they do not fork out upwards of 700,000HKD and have to worry about living expenses. Do you think our Mummies and Daddies supported us during our training ? No, well who then. ( OK, I do concede a few would have had mum and dads support )
Can any of you argue that your conditions are different to what you signed up for ??
No ?, well why did you sign for something you are not happy with ?
Once again, SUPPLY and DEMAND.
we are only here because CX and KA need us, with 1.4 Billion people jus to the North and 1/3 of the population of Australia here in HK I will leave you to decide why that is.
But need us here and they have to pay accordingly.
Even on local T&Cs you are still getting paid more than 50% of the pilots in the world, FACT, if you don't like it then along with everyone else you can just apply elsewhere, can't you ? ( or don't you want to leave home ? )