Surprised no one commented on this before. Might be a tad outdated, but talk about elitist! I fly corporate, so I was even more insulted! With the upcoming lay-offs it will no doubt be revisited.
A board member of Aeropers (ex-Swissair pilots union) writes in an article printed in the union newsletter of September or October 2002…..(it’s a very long winded article, find it here
http://www.aeropers.ch/PDFDateien/ARS_5_2002.pdf (under Gleiche Arbeit, Gleicher Lohn? Same salary for the same work?)
and I won’t translate it all) defending the position to pay ex-Crossair pilots less than ex-Swissair pilots, even for longer routes……
“….For most it is logical, that a hospital Chief of Staff will earn more than a resident doctor, a university professor more than a primary school teacher and the editor of a national newspaper more than a local reporter. Also, in sports, no one questions the lower salary of the centre at Winterthur FC (small-town Swiss football team) compared to a Ronaldo. Not everyone managing a few people can be the CEO of a corporation…..”
“Pilot does not equal pilot”…
…“Differences between the two pilot groups at Swiss are based on measurable qualities such as selection, qualification, training and experience, qualities central to other careers, that determine salary”….
…”a candidate at Swissair only qualified if, besides a minimal education (Matura or technical college and 3 languages), he also possessed the profile of a future long haul captain”…..
…”the majority of the rejected candidates went off to Basel to join Crossair”…
…”after careful selection the candidates attended 1 ½ years of pilot training. Combined with constant further education (Simulator, CRM, etc.) and constant screening, a homogenous pilot corps of high standards was developed” …..
…”at Crossair it was generally sufficient to have a valid pilot’s license, that had been obtained somewhere(!!!). Additional requirements were waived when the demand for pilots was high. Even German or strong English language was often not required. Training consisted of a ‘Schnellbleiche’ (?) of a couple of exercises in the Simulator…….This may explain the fact that the selection to a Swissair cockpit, that was attempted by the majority of ex-Crossair pilots, was unsuccessful.”…
3 more pages to go, going on and on about flying over the Atlantic, navigating around Tornadoes and Monsoons, dealing with culturally different ground personnel in Africa and Asia, aircraft size and cross-qualified airbus pilots, higher productivity….. but I am feeling sick again…..anyone else have a translated version?
I thought my first post after lurking for years would be in Jetblast….well maybe that’s where this belongs….