Why don't we have a retirement fund similar to the old one but with lower factors? I believe this would be acceptable if at the end of the day we knew what we had. The old retirement scheme guarantees a certain amount at the end of the day. If I knew what I would expect at the end of a career I could save for what I think I might need. Right now I have no idea. If the market goes for a crap when I am close to retirement, I can lose 30% or more. I just want to know what is there for me at the end of the tunnel.
Pilots with other schemes know they would be getting XXX?/month when they retire. With the new scheme I have no idea. I don't think it is too much to ask, since we are suppose to work for a major airline.
Investment bankers are like used car salesman. They say the product is good until you need it. I don't want that with my retirement. Nick has spit out numbers saying that I will get 5% per year on average. That has not happened and I can't wait until retirement to find out if he is correct. If Nick says I will have 5% per year, put it in writing. If it makes more, he keeps what is over 5%. Something has to be better that what we have now.
I agree mouthing off on an anonymous forum is safer than stating your opinion with management. It is a shame I have to use Pprune to let the company know how I feel, but the CEO and the Managers of Cathay Flight Operations has made this the only way. Make the FF's optional and see how many shows up.
Does anybody think that a HKG based Captain should get paid 30% less for doing the same job? Do you think that a Relief Commander (basically and F/O) should not be paid more for the extra responsibly? If the RC screws up, he is finished. You should be paid more for extra responsibly. That is why a Captain gets paid more.
We have positions within Cathay called Junior First Officers. Basically a First Officers but gets paid a lot less with less benefits and leave. He is not a real First Officer (in the eyes of the company) so he gets paid less. He does the same job though. Cathay started this position stating that the S/O's don?t have the experience/qualifications to be F/O's. My opinion is if you can sit in the right seat and do the job, you are a F/O. if you cannot, back to the S/O's seat or the door. If this philosophy holds true, why don't they have Junior Captain positions?
I can read the accident report now. Why did the aircraft hit the mountain? Oh the Junior First Officers screwed up. What's a Junior First Officer? He is First Officer, but he is not good enough so we made him a Junior First Officer. Why has Nick failed about 20 JF/O's?
We should have Junior Captains. Why did the aircraft hit the mountain? Oh the Junior Captain screwed up. What's a Junior Captain? Oh he wasn't good enough to be a real Captain, so we made him a Junior Captain.
Makes perfect sense to me.
You can request all that stuff on rostering but if you are the # 1 Pilot, #1 in that position, #1 on that fleet there is no way of knowing if you will get to see your kids at the play. Besides Crew Control/Nick keeps track of who answers their phone on days off. When your name is pulled up, there are comments next to your name. So if you request trips or days off, depending what is beside your name, you might get it. Pilots have requested 5 days off at the beginning of the month and got the last 5 days of the month off. Those pilots have given up on the system because it doesn't work. If you have one pilot requesting a day off and he gets it, that is 100% success rate. That is what I love about statistics, you can manipulate them to say whatever you like.
Again, expressing one's view at the FF's is a certain way to get yourself demoted in whatever position you hold. Never miss the opportunity to keep your mouth shut. I would love to tell Nick what I think, but I can't. He will and has held up careers and totally destroyed others. And he is the next DFO in waiting.
These FF's are a classic busting exercise. Straight out of the book (if you read it). Best thing to do is not say anything and protect yourself.
Feet are still not nailed, glued, taped, cemented to the floor.
When a flight is proceeding incredibly well, something was forgotten.
- Robert Livingston, 'Flying The Aeronca'