On the issue of unpaid leave.
By now it's probably obvious that CoS08 is better for captains and over 50 years old FOs and that CoS99 is better for SOs and younger FOs.
I'm an FO and CoS99 is the way to go for me.
On the issue of taking unpaid leave I can't help but having to raise my eyebrows.
Why on earth does the company want to push through a retirement age of 65 right NOW when they are overstaffed? They state that training is the issue at play.
So then my question is: why aren't there enough younger trainers?
Whereas two weeks ago I would probably have had no problem with giving up 3 weeks salary because I don't want to see anyone be made redundant and I understand there's a crisis, now I am reluctant.
First reason is that the request is coupled with signing a new contract.
If you're an FO or SO and are willing to sign a new contract, you don't have to take your 3 weeks unpaid leave. So if you're willing to give up a lot of money in the future, THEY DON'T NEED TO SAVE MONEY NOW?
Second is exactly the reason given: insufficient training capacity.
I can understand that in the rapid growth period there weren't enough trainers. Now there's a surplus in staff and there are still not enough trainers? Where are the younger trainers? Why are there not enough younger trainers? Is it because training is only a good deal for A scalers? Is it because there's an attitude that younger people can't provide proper training to others?
In any case, this shouldn't have anything to do with having to raise retirement age by ten years exactly NOW.
Now I am asked to give up my salary for one of these reasons (or a combination):
A. insufficient planning towards future training
B. attitude of the older trainers that young people can't provide training
C. friends of management approach age 55 retirement and this has to go through fast
D. some court is about to rule that Cathay can't maintain it's retirement age at 55 anymore, in which case they now quickly want everyone to voluntarily agree to switch.
Honestly, I don't see the point of wanting to push through a new contract now and coupling it with the need to take unpaid leave.
In his message, NR erased all the warming up that management did in the past few months towards taking unpaid leave.
I might be missing some points here, but I have a lot of question marks.
I need to be convinced of the need for unpaid leave before I sign up to it. At the moment, I'm not convinced.