Old fart?! Who said that?
>>Thermal Image I see that you have stopped calling them 'old farts' thus avoiding upsetting those such as OZZY AIRBOuRNE who seems to have a very 'short fuse'
thegypsy, hello again. Yes I was wondering who'd be the first to refer to them this way this time. I exercised some restraint in case one hadn't read my previous posts on my use of this description. Careful now, OZZY might think 'short fuse' refers not to his patience, given his somewhat odd powers of comprehension...
>>It is of course quite right that the seconded pilots should be stood down, but as you say what will actually happen is another matter. This is a golden opportunity for the 'armchair generals to exert their authority over Alpha-S once and for all.
Actually from a strictly cashflow viewpoint, the basis of why they are asking all to go on no-pay leave every so often, so long as the "seconded" pilots cost less than the locals, then the argument that the expats should ALL go first is very weak indeed. Not every expat is more costly than the most senior local.
>>It cannot be right that ex-pats who are seconded from SIA Mauritius, mostly ex BA on huge pensions tax free to boot in most cases because they all claim to live outside the UK are kept on whilst locals and others who have long loyal service to SIA have a huge cut in salary by taking forced leave every 2 months.
Well I don't begrudge such expats from continuing on at SIA. In fact it should be none of our business what sort of financial health they are in. If they are willing to work to certain conditions at a certain price then that is all that should matter. Why should anyone bother about their financial backgrounds?
>>With the Pound around $2.8 to the SGD the actual cost savings of these London based Pilots are not as beneficial as it once was in pure economic terms but of course they are a balance against the locals.
Well that was a bet the management made when they priced their deal. Just too bad for them that the currency moved against them. Who knows, they may even have bought derivatives to protect themselves against this event.
>>You are not quite correct about a total giveaway over the 'Business Class' seat issue as the company had to back down to a certain degree and lose face to an extent which put egg on the face of one the armchair generals as Captains still got their seat.
Maybe I didn't express myself well enough. What I meant to say was that even though they knew of this requirement in the CA they just went ahead anyway to try to implement the instruction. Later it was modified, yes, but whether it was good negotiating strategy or genuine gentlemanly decency is anyone's guess.