MrTyler
1st Nov 2010, 15:30
If you are serious about getting the company to the bargaining table to see a fair, meaningful and well deserved inflation adjusted salary increase, the only way a Swire company will listen to you is if you have something to offer in return. Although extremely counter to your natural good will, it is imperitive that you have something to bargain with.
We are not subject to the same market forces as other company employees, because we cannot leave Cathay due to the seniority systems of other airlines which prohibit you slotting into an equivalent position elsewhere. The seniority system was implemented by airlines to protect us from unscrupulous employers, but the downside is that it restricts inter-airline employment. The company will always have the upperhand because for this sole reason, which is why your inflation adjusted salaries have slid so dramatically in recent years - you have no bargaining power.
The only counter is for you to restrict your airlines growth by putting a noose on the training machine. No training = no expansion.
To achieve this it is very simple:
DECLINE or POSTPONE a training gig
If you hold out for 6 months, the training slot will still be available, and you will have held a card at the negotiation table for the union to obtain the salary increase that you have been complaining about for so long.
There is simply no other bargaining chip that is as powerful.
Call your buddies who are considering training, and ask them to do the same. Delay training for 6 months.
After all, the company have stalled your salary negotiation for 6 months. This is not an unscrupulous tactic, but just good business sense for your career, and is certainly no less unscrupulous than what the company has done to you (remember Cos08 contracts at SLSL time?)
Contract compliance, although well intentioned, has an insignificant effect. Delayed training has a meaningful effect - you will be heard.
For your salaries, and those of the pilots that will fill your seat when you have gone, and for your profession. Cathay used to be a place you were proud to work for, let's try and get that feeling back.
6 months gentleman, that's all you need.
We are not subject to the same market forces as other company employees, because we cannot leave Cathay due to the seniority systems of other airlines which prohibit you slotting into an equivalent position elsewhere. The seniority system was implemented by airlines to protect us from unscrupulous employers, but the downside is that it restricts inter-airline employment. The company will always have the upperhand because for this sole reason, which is why your inflation adjusted salaries have slid so dramatically in recent years - you have no bargaining power.
The only counter is for you to restrict your airlines growth by putting a noose on the training machine. No training = no expansion.
To achieve this it is very simple:
DECLINE or POSTPONE a training gig
If you hold out for 6 months, the training slot will still be available, and you will have held a card at the negotiation table for the union to obtain the salary increase that you have been complaining about for so long.
There is simply no other bargaining chip that is as powerful.
Call your buddies who are considering training, and ask them to do the same. Delay training for 6 months.
After all, the company have stalled your salary negotiation for 6 months. This is not an unscrupulous tactic, but just good business sense for your career, and is certainly no less unscrupulous than what the company has done to you (remember Cos08 contracts at SLSL time?)
Contract compliance, although well intentioned, has an insignificant effect. Delayed training has a meaningful effect - you will be heard.
For your salaries, and those of the pilots that will fill your seat when you have gone, and for your profession. Cathay used to be a place you were proud to work for, let's try and get that feeling back.
6 months gentleman, that's all you need.