ManaDubai,
As you are obviously a management type and as you are endeavoring to at least post on here in a coherent manner, I will try to reply likewise:
As others have pointed out, the general mood of the pilots at Emirates as evidenced here has not come out of thin air but is the result of a number of actions taken by the company. I would very much like you to respond to these particular points if you can.
1. Mine and other contracts specifically says that Emirates will pay my water and electric bills. It does not say that it will only pay part or up to a certain amount. This is in my contract. Where I come from, to do otherwise is termed a "breach of contract" and is illegal. To add insult to injury, we were not told that this was because time were tough and that we all had to tighten our belts. No, this was for the environment.
2. Mine and other contracts specifically state that I am entitled to 42 days of leave a year yet I have been told that I am really "only entitled to 30 days." Again, that little old thing called a contract comes to mind.
3. When pilots interviewed here, they were shown a certain standard of accommodation and assured that the policy was for a married pilot with children would be provided with a villa. When they showed up, some with as many as 4-5 children were given small 2 bedroom apartments as temporary accommodation. I guess the term temporary is relative as for some it stretched beyond 2 years. Contractual? Perhaps not but where I come from it's called bait and switch and generally refers to the actions of those known as con men and thieves.
4. When those same pilots interviewed here (when the company was fairly desperate for pilots), they were given the criteria for advancement. Many based their decision to move their families thousands of miles away from home on those criteria. When it suited the company, those same criteria were changed, severely disadvantaging the future earning potential of those pilots and their families. Again, contractual - no but the word sleazy comes to mind.
5. Finally for now, lets talk about fatigue. There is not a reputable airline in the world that is flying their pilots the amount of hours and across the numbers of time zones that Emirates is. 94 hours average and most of the line pilots I know are routinely flying trips to the U.S. and Australia in the same month. Now, you don't appear to be a pilot so I'll make this simple for you. You would be wiped out flying as a passenger that much through that many time zones, yet we are required to work to some of the most arcane and unrealistic rules in this or any other industry. Now as you say, a better forum would be for us to take our concerns to our managers. Many of us have tried that and have been rebuffed at every turn. The last time I saw someone bring it up, our fearless leader launched into a speech about us being at the forefront of fatigue management and that other airlines were following our lead. Let's think about this for a second - he didn't even say there was no fatigue, just that we were "managing it". A medical definition of fatigue is:
Definition
Fatigue is physical and/or mental exhaustion that can be triggered by stress, medication, overwork, or mental and physical illness or disease.
Description
Everyone experiences fatigue occasionally. It is the body's way of signaling its need for rest and sleep. But when fatigue becomes a persistent feeling of tiredness or exhaustion that goes beyond normal sleepiness, it is usually a sign that something more serious is amiss.
Physically, fatigue is characterized by a profound lack of energy, feelings of muscle weakness, and slowed movements or central nervous system reactions. Fatigue can also trigger serious mental exhaustion. Persistent fatigue can cause a lack of mental clarity (or feeling of mental "fuzziness"), difficulty concentrating, and in some cases, memory loss.
This is what we are managing. To be clear, to be fatigued is to be impaired. Do you want your flight crew to be impaired when something goes wrong, or when the weather is poor? This issue has been brought to this company's attention numerous times yet has been completely and utterly ignored.
I could go on but I would really like to see your responses to these 5 points. I won't even go into the fact that the company holds the passports of employees below a certain grade, in violation of UAE law. (Oh, I guess I just did).
The reason that the company is having a difficult time recruiting and retaining pilots is because of their actions. If you or I behaved in the ways described, we would be known as someone who does not keep their word and who is not to be trusted. That is the crux of Emirates problem and why you read the types of contributions that you have bemoaned.