Charity-work
Interesting to read.....not working for chartity, nobody works for charity, not even Pilots.
Between 350 US $ and 1.250 US $ is the monthly share hardworking Pilots donate to the Agents. That is the approximate figure I could get from the diffrence our Airline pays the Agent and the amount that the Pilot receives.
Fortunatly our contract states it is paid after TAX and if your Country has a double taxation agreement you have to check the terms set there and you are then protected. In most cases, that depends on the Airline, not on the Agency, You will be Taxliable for the amount you receive as there is no tax paid anyhwere and the contract states that the Agency and the Airline is held free from any further claims such as Tax, social security, insurances and all other liability connected with that payment / employment. It is very questionable how most of these contracts are written. Usualy one sided, means all rights are reserved to the Airline and the Agency and all obligations are resting on you. Often you can find the clause in case of legal dispute the rules of a certain Island or other non-exiting legislation are applied. But market dictates the condition: Airline needs to fill the Cockpit with Pilots and cannot find any: Condition improves, too many Pilots ask for the same Job: Conditon shrinks. Up and down the last 20 years.
How come a Airline pays less for a B744 driver then for a B777 ?? You guess at what base and You might find a explanation for that. Same as condition. In one Airline you can have 7 days off every month, same Airline later comes and states only 14 days every second month. Other Airlines ask you to stay for 8 weeks on and 4 weeks off, another one gives you 10 days off per month and want you to work 20 days then.
Duriation of the contract is variable as well, Airlines dictate to the Agency and they try to Headhunt the Pilots, presently it is the other way around: More Pilots hunt the less Jobs.....
If the position is permanent the Agency receives a "finding fee" for the Headhunt, that means the Airline employs you direct and permanent and the Agency gets a number for the Service they did from the Airline, no donation form the Pilots towards the Agent. In such cases you have to move mostly in the Country where the Airline is and then they deal in your behalf with the local Tax issue in most cases.
I hope that gives you some food for thoughts, one last one: BE CAREFULL
Fly safe and land happy
NG