I am sorry to have missed OOs response!
6FU, by my calculation CX must then have about 500 pilot managers using your criterion. You forget there are a substantial number of quite senior guys who are not in management and now not in the AOA. To say they are without influence is incorrect. To say that they are all uncaring and selfish twats just counting their money is also incorrect.
The simple point is that whilst DT may be the focus of a lot of the vitriol, and one of the ultimate arbiters, he is somewhat removed from the day-to-day minutae of this issue and will remain so. The recent demotion of the jumpseater was signed in the prefects room not the headmasters office.
When PS was in charge, there were large handouts. One year saw a 20% increase in salaries. At the time, HK was seen as a risky bet and the large increments helped ensure top quality aircrew were retained and recruitment not hindered. The costs per seat km soared. Just have a look at the historical costs over the past 15 years. A large increase in the early 90s, a flattening and slight drop in the mid nineties and a continued fall over the past 5 years. Without this attention to cost, CX would not be here today.
Provident fund cheques for over HKD 30m were being written in the mid 90s. The highest HKD35m. You do the math.
Personality is one thing but without a robust business that can weather the huge cycles of uncertainty CX would be destined for the scrapheap and with it 1600 flying jobs.
Slimming down has created a lot of tension and the current complex web of contracts is unwieldy and not conducive to stability or, for that matter, a vibrant AOA.
Having said that, it is obvious that the focus on cost remains. A number of the guys retiring this year would have accepted extensions but the simple fact is it simply prolongs the cost bulge and is not an option. If recruitment was a problem they perhaps would have been extended but as Shortly points out, it is not.
The AOA leadership has accepted the fact that many of the 49ers will not be back and have been negotiating from that stance. The rank and file should know this.
The hole is deep enough already. Before the soil is used for reclamation elsewhere, stop the digging, turn down the volume and knock on the front door not the back door.
Noone is saying things are great but there is a greater chance of aggregate improvement in compromise and rebuilding trust. Litigation may help maintain the rage but it is not the road to Nirvana.
Pilots are being commoditised the world over. The test is whether the lot at CX is better or worse than elsewhere. If it is still better, on the whole, then we acknowledge the fact, bury the hatchet and work on sharing the upside and not focussing on reducing our share of the downside.
Open to more abuse!!