New Contract
Hello Peoples,
The newest contract is out for Tianjin and more information about the company is coming out to the pilots.
There is a leadership shift in thinking and some leadership change driving the company in a slightly new direction.
A330. May happen in the most distant future. It is an idea. In China there is the practice of over promising and while it is not untrue that they desire to fly the A330 there is no firm plan. This was made clear at the last meeting and the A320 drivers were not so happy about this. This will also slow the upward trend of E145 to E190 and E190 to A320. Surprised? This is how it works here. Don't think the A330 will be here if ever for several years. There may be an A430 on the market by then.
A seniority system of vacation was established to help with the desire of everyone to take off at the same times of the year. ie. Xmas and summer.
It is based on length of service and family. If you have a family here in China it boosts your seniority ranking a bit.
The 4/4 contract has some limitations on it that make it not the plan it seems. Simulator and medical months must only have 7 days off and you many only have 1 Xmas off every 2 years. This causes a 2 week on 2 week off period for two months. With other restrictions it makes the 6/3 more attractive. The people who came here for the straight 4/4 contract were upset at the limitations and are searching elsewhere at the moment. There are many 320 contracts out there that have better quality of life conditions. Northern China is abysmal. At least they are on paper offering Haikou as a base. You would rarely fly here and always deadhead out. This is the most overstaffed base now. It used to be a larger base for Tianjin then it moved North. Many of the pilots have houses there and are required to deadhead out. There is no reason to come here on the A320 when you could be in Chongqing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, or any of the other better livable places. The A320 contracts are very similar in China. Do you want to live in Liverpool or Barcelona?
It may not matter for the new pilots because they will most likely fall outside the new open/closed base definition. Each base will have a stated number of pilots needed. If you are over this arbitrary number, made by Tianjin, then you will be able to be assigned 3 individual 5 day trips a month. If you are on a 6/3 contract this means you are not in your flat most of the time you are in China. This means you are in some dingy cheap Chinese hotel. Enjoy the misery of your new found ultimate drifter status. I would advise you not starting drinking the JD in the darkness of your lonely hotel room. Then commute home somewhere on your days off. You will know a whole new kind of minimalistic life ie. Chinese life.
There are some E145 drivers new here that came on the condition they would upgrade immediately to the E190. This cannot happen as it is not allowed by CAAC rules. They are a little upset and have to sit on the E145 for at least one year on the line. This raised eyebrows on the E145. There are no E190 drivers slated to transition to the A320. Again. It is just an idea not a plan yet.
The time off on this new contract is a little less by about 15 days and the pay is 1K more per month. I think the Chinese think about money only or it vastly outweighs quality of life significance. Unless you have 4 kids with two ex-wives or a gambling problem what can you do with an extra 1k a month when you already make about 16K with 8K quarterly payments for flight benefits and tax relief? I will take those extra days off. If you are here you do not have to sign the new contract but once your contract expires you will have to sign whatever is being offered at the time. That makes a risk of something less than currently being offered a distinct possibility. You won't be needed forever. I expect it to be less next year and the contracts offered change rapidly.
Training pay for transition is now 5K per month. As you transition you have to sign the new contract. This means that in conservative estimates for a training period of 3 months you are at 5K. At a general average for all the A/C and contract options lets say 16K is your pay. 16k-5k equals 11k/month you lose. 11k x 3months equals 33k. Over a 3 year contract 33K equals the pay raise you just got on this new contract. Total gain..... 0. If you are planning to fly bigger equipment think about this. There are several people here that even if offered this transition now will not take it. If you take the transition and leave before the term of the contract you will have to pay Tianjin for the training costs. It is in house training but I promise you will get a CAE style bill.
But there are many new restrictions on this contract. Buybacks were implemented as it is getting difficult to take all your holidays but it makes your buybacks less than normal value.
Due to any training failure, any recheck is paid 50% by the pilot. The second failure is paid 100% by the pilot.
There is no sick leave on the new contracts. Your holidays will be used for sick leave.
The new Chinese social insurance is being implemented by the government and you will have to pay 11% towards this system. Unless you stay here several years you won't get it back. You do get medical insurance in China but it will be in Chinese style hospitals. Good luck with that. It amounts to about 250 USD per month you will never see again.
There are other things in this contract that in my opinion and the opinion of others here that this is not an improvement but pretty much the old contract with more limitations. The presentation left a sour taste in most people's mouth. Even some of the agencies are advising to not sign the new contract and remain on the old one. There may be a selfish motivation for this as the fee for the pilots may have changed too.
Someone asked what is the purpose of this contract. There was no answer.
You can still come here and make money. How long I have no idea. There are so many Chinese in training and the secret of AQP arrival is unknown. I do know with 100% certainty that you are expendable. You are temporary and anything more than a few years as in 2-3 is starting to look at longer gambling odds. If you are slugging it out flying Berlin-Milan 3 times a day and not making any money then I would say yes, come here and make some money and get some time off. Have an exit plan. Many don't stay long. Don't bring your kids. If you don't have a solid marriage and a confident partner don't come. Most don't even make the medical screening or the CAAC check. And that is not talent or skill because I'm here.
Don't read the blurbs about the pay and time off. You really need to understand the contract you are signing. I think this last contract was the peek.
China is changing rapidly. Going from 14% growth to 7% is a massive uncomfortable change. It means the cracks of reality are showing. The wild west is gone if not at least on hold.
Choose wisely.
Last edited by pilotss2001; 20th May 2013 at 12:43.