"Think they've got themselves into another tangle!
EK generally do pay rises for everyone i.e. not for a specific group so if they up flight crew pay they'll have to do it for everyone, but they don't necessarily want to increase everyones pay!
They could increase flying pay but that doesn't help as we want to fly less. Increasing flying pay doesn't really help the package much as only an increase in basic pay affects company provident fund payments.
So how do they increase our package financially without annoying everyone else!".
Seriously do you think they give a rat's a** what everyone thinks? The bottom line is there are thousands, if not millions of people out there that could qualify to be a gate agent, cabin crew etc etc but a very limited pool worldwide of pilots that are qualified. Their only hope now is to SIGNIFICANTLY increase the package for new AND EXISTING pilots- as there are better options out there right now. They have no obligation to do the same for everyone else. When a company recruits a CEO, they have to find the person with the years of experience and qualifications that are fully capable to handle the job ; they have to pay the right cash to attract and retain them. They do not have to do this with their admin and support staff as they are a dime a dozen. Their admin staff does not get a raise every time the CEO has a pay rise.
Experienced pilots are a commodity, most of the other staff , while they may be amazing at their job, are not coming with a highly specialized background,and can be easily replaced. If the pay is high enough, people will come here, numbers will go up and we can all get some rest. Just even a little. Otherwise, it's going to be a non stop exodus. Personally , I don't give a sh*t about the "bonus"- it is just a way to shut everyone up for a while- what we need is a very big pay increase, and more pilots (so again, a very big pay rise).