The above post is spot on, and if anything it understates the problems at PX. Morale, not only among pilots but elsewhere within the company is rock bottom. The bottom line is that managment sees the pilots as the root cause of all the problems , conveniently overlooking the fact that as managment, they bear ultimate responsibility for running the company and for the on-going train wreck that PX is becoming. Even some senior managment pilots have resigned in disgust as senior company managment manages to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
No-one like a pay cut, but most pilots would have the ability to understand changing financial realities and would accept one if the reality was presented to them fairly and were treated like human beings. The trouble is, that managment flat out lies to the pilots, and no matter what they say, at the end of the day they can’t be trusted.
The 2012 expatriate pilot agreement says (and I am quoting directly): “This agreement supersedes all previous agreements and shall be effective on the date of signing of the execution clause and operate until the 1st day of January 2015 or until amended or superseded BY MUTUAL AGREEMENT of both parties. A new agreement shall be negotiated in the six (6) months prior to the expiration of this agreement, should this not occur before the expiration of this agreement the provisions of this agreement will remain in force until such time as a new agreement is reached and the improvements contained in the new agreement shall be backdated to the expiry of this agreement.”
Now Im not a lawyer, but to me that says (in plain English) that the 2012 contract is valid until BOTH parties (i.e. company and pilots) agree to amend or update it. What it doesn’t say is that the company can unilaterally decree that it expires on 31/12/14 (which they did), and impose a new contract with dramatically reduced terms and conditions (including compulsory Port Moresby basing’s) on crew against their will. Pilots were threatened with termination if they refused to sign the 2015 contract. I wasn’t there, but have it on good authority that cadet pilots (i.e. national pilots still under bond who have not got their first command) were apparently marched 1 by 1 into the EMFO’s office and (a) ordered to sign the 2015 contract and (b) ordered to resign from NAPU (the national pilots union) under threat of immediate termination. No joke.
As the above post implys, most (but not all) of those who signed did so at the last minute, reluctantly and against there will, despite major efforts by the two pilots associations to negotiate a fair and reasonable contract. Most of the remaining pilots are at PX only until they can get another job and I would hazard a guess that by mid year (coincidentally, when PNG is hosting the pacific games) that the company will be parking many aircraft and regularly canceling flights due to pilot shortages. The company simply does not want to know and treats pilots with disrespect and disdain.
The bottom line? If you decide to take up there offer and apply for a B scale position, just make sure that you get EVERYTHING in writing – not so you have got a legal comeback when things go wrong (and they will), because in PNG you have no legal defense AT ALL, but so that you have an adequate supply of toilet paper, because that’s all a written contract with PX is worth.
Be aware what you will be letting yourself in for. The most dysfunctional, disorganized, operation that you could conceive or imagine. There are many exceptional line pilots at PX, both National and Expat; Smart, professional and many are true gentlemen (and a few piss heads as well to be fair…) and it is only due to there efforts in the past that PX has maintained it’s accident free record. With the loss of many of those already, and the many more to come, trouble is inevitable.
Good luck and God Bless. Don’t come to PX and don’t allow any of your friends or family to fly PX, because the inevitable result of this is that someone (soon) will park an aircraft on the Kokoda trail or the Finisterre ranges or elsewhere (due to lack of experience in–country for new b scale crew, or due ongoing stress and subsequent simple errors on the part of existing crew) with dozens of fatalities.
Don’t let it be you.