Social Media Policy

[Lions Gate]

There are seminal moments in CX where management actions speak louder than they intend. Take their new Social Media Policy. This is in response to the catastrophic public reputation that CX now has around the world. Most pilots don't even consider applying to CX due to the well established attacks on aircrew, intimidation and bullying (like this new policy!), and the completely inadequate package on offer. A package that forces pilots to live like college students in a very small dormitory. Even if a pilot hears about CX, and they haven't really availed themselves of the facts at that point, they quickly get the facts from this forum and many others. The new company policy is due to the panic that is setting in as they find they can't attract pilots, and are losing and will continue to lose many of the ones they already have. Interestingly, this attempt to 'censor' the pilot body is a classic sign of a failing regime, be it business or political. The genie is out of the bottle, and it is comical that CX feels they can shut down worldwide communications and dissemination of information. To CX management: you can no more contain the truth than you can stop the tides. As they used to say on the "X-Files" series on TV....the "Truth is Out There". Oh, and btw, the only thing that needs censoring are the lies and threats that emanate from CX city.

[mngmt mole]

Ok, i'll do my best to comply.

1) CX is NOT a bullying, corrupt employer.
2) CX provides wonderful packages for all pilots, where you can live in the lap of luxury and purchase a luxury yacht and a Maserati.
3) CX has the BEST management in the industry, with the senior Flt Ops manager being like, really smart...I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius, and a very stable genius at that!
4) CX upholds all their contracts to the letter. You can BANK on it !!
5) CX provides a stable, rewarding career (especially if you are management!)

Well, I hope that clears up any misunderstandings over previous comments, and as you can see, I am here to support MY management any moment of the day or night. :ok:

[Air Profit]

It is a PLEASURE to live in 250-300 sq ft of living space (think how close you will be to your wife...literally). It is also a privilege to have to pay a $120,000 usd (yes, hundred and twenty thousand) 'deposit' to get your child into a decent school. And then there is the amazing staff travel benefit, where you get to contribute to the profit of your airline when you go back to visit your family in your home country. A J class seat, round trip to LHR is about the same as monthly rent in an apartment in Nottingham, bargain! Again, it is a privilege to know you are contributing to the airlines profit (and management bonuses). An all around amazing company, with amazing management. Who WOULDN'T want to join????

[Shep69]

Sometimes it seems like I'm watching a sitcom or cartoon.

I mean, the coyote is constantly setting minefields in his own backyard and then going out and stepping on them while chasing after something or other in the dark. All while he could simply be at home in front of a warm fire ordering some barbecue and watching his ACME TV.

It'd be more funny I guess if it weren't in real life.

[Air Profit]

Good analogy. Let's come up with some others:

Tasmanian Devil cartoon character:
- from Wikipedia : Taz is generally portrayed as a ferocious, albeit dim-witted, omnivore (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnivore) with a notoriously short temper and little patience.

[Captain Dart]

Then there’s Elmer Fudd: ‘Shhh...be vewy quiet. We’re hunting piwots...heh heh heh heh’.

[cxorcist]

Did the policy change? I cannot say I was familiar with the old policy. Just can’t be bothered to care. As for it being a reaction to CX’s poor reputation, I’d say they are several years late.

[BlunderBus]

Yet all the while they are free to publish all the utter crap they can dream up about their staff and those naughty pilots. This management team are totally ineffective abusive and incompetent. They write their own obituary.

[Mill Worker]

Let’s just refer to them as “The Met Office”. An organisation that gets it wrong every day and yet still gets paid...

[Farman Biplane]

Is this why the screwed over Captains on the Airbus got a printed snail mail letter about out of seniority A50 junior Captains? Avoids any social media policy liability for egregious discrimination and disregard of the contractual obligation to seniority.

[Arfur Dent]

Remember RH and the Adelaide debacle when several graduates were persuaded to stay on (to keep the show on the road) as Instructors with no loss of CX seniority. After they'd done their bit, they joined CX but were royally screwed over by RH and his lying cronies. Welcome to Cathay boys and girls! Delayed seniority, late Commands etc etc would add up to a massive financial penalty for trying to help. Something like that anyway. Oh and some of their Dads were STC's, Fleet Management, Training Captains, Captains. Stuff 'em all!!
Nice.

[Trafalgar]

I seem to recall that the mainland Chinese govt has a similar policy. I'm sure that no citizen of China manages to read outside news or post comments on social media :rolleyes:. Funny how totalitarian organisations and like-minded individuals fear the truth, and fear people discussing that truth. When almost everything they say and believe is false, it is understandable why our managers fear the truth. The management also don't seem to realise that this further attempt at intimidation is just further evidence for the 'thinking pilot' to help him/her make up their minds to leave. As if they need yet ANOTHER reason...

[Lions Gate]

The funny thing is, I never posted on PPRUNE prior to this. I found the GMA letter insulting and pathetic. Gave me the impetus to sign up and throw it back in his face. They seem to think that a simple edict from their ivory tower will cause the problem to go away. They ARE the problem. Thousands of angry pilots who see the damage our management do each day, and resent the way they are being treated by that same management will be certain to make sure that the rest of the world is well aware of the truth about the epic incompetence, greed, intimidation, bullying and disrespect shown to us. Further, I can't in good conscience allow other unwitting pilots and their families to make the same mistake I did, and find themselves in a miserable situation that is damaging to mind, health, families and careers. I am waiting for a course date after interviewing back in late November (major european airline). I will be leaving as quickly as I can once received. I, and my family have sacrificed enough already. I was lied to prior to joining this company, lied to while I have been here, and now they think it appropriate to control my 'thoughts' as well. Note to AT and DP: the word is out, and most pilots around the world see this company for what it is: deceitful, dysfunctional, incompetent and doomed to eventual failure. Most of the colleagues I fly with weekly concur, and nearly all that I know are making plans to leave. And you people thing you can keep that reality out of the public eye. Delusional.

[Hugo Peroni the IV]

Is that the very new airbus captains, screwed over by even newer airbus captains, fed up because they are not on the 350 ahead of existing 330 Captains 3 years their senior? They have my sympathy!

[Trafalgar]

Aside from the appalling fact of seniority corruption, it is fascinating to witness CX manage to mess up every single issue regarding what should be a sacrosanct aspect of our careers. What you see here is the result of lawless people operating in a lawless environment. Ultimately only chaos results (and our management sit there and blame their aircrew for the problems...:ugh:). The only solution it to join an airline where rules mean what they say, not what the "manager of the day" decides they should be.

[mngmt mole]

And what better way for CX managers to sow dissension than to mess with the one thing of value in our careers, seniority. Even better, it results in pilots turning against pilots, just the sort of reaction our management relish. HP IV, I understand your upset, but the real problem is with our management, not the pilots. There is more than enough reason for EVERY group of aircrew to be angry with our management, so let's stay focused on that. The real enemy are those who are responsible for bringing down a once great company. Not the hard working employees who are responsible for it's legacy reputation (now fading away...).

Thread drift: this was about the new social media policy. Just another example of how utterly delusional our management are. They think they can stop the earth rotation. The internet provides the forum to expose the machinations of our management, and it will continue to do so. No matter what AT and DP think. The more they try to muzzle and censor, the more people will insist on pushing back and highlighting their tyrannical behaviour.

[Shep69]

I seem to recall that the mainland Chinese govt has a similar policy. I'm sure that no citizen of China manages to read outside news or post comments on social media :rolleyes:. Funny how totalitarian organisations and like-minded individuals fear the truth, and fear people discussing that truth. When almost everything they say and believe is false, it is understandable why our managers fear the truth. The management also don't seem to realise that this further attempt at intimidation is just further evidence for the 'thinking pilot' to help him/her make up their minds to leave. As if they need yet ANOTHER reason...

Ya....something like that was the SECOND thought I had after Wile E. Coyote stepping on his own mines popped into my head (the thought of folks trying to censor or truncate speech--especially when it's the truth--never works out very well and isn't something you want to do--and is generally a hallmark of totalitarian regimes fearing truth. Thinking people can weigh the merits of arguments presented as well as consider the source and it's a big red flag to me when someone tries to 'crack down' on this through coercive means. To me, it usually means they are losing their arguments based on the facts).

Most companies have some type of social media policy (even if not delineated); most go along the lines of if you say bad things publicly about us that aren't true (or reveal company secrets) you can get into trouble or fired (depending on your hiring situation or contract). And kinda stop there.

Fair enough. If Joe Blow posts publicly on his Facebook page while wearing his Pizza World shirt "my job sucks, Pizza World uses worms in their pizza, and my boss is a cross-dressing :mad:" -- and it's really him that said it for the world to see -- it's not a great deal different than if he said it to the press or posted bills saying the same thing. And he gets to deal with the consequences of his actions--to include getting fired.

Now, if his boss really IS a well known cross dresser and they really ARE using worms (and shouldn't be) the situation might well change.

Problem is, once you get into the weeds and try to control and define what people might say to each OTHER the rules change quite a bit. And depend on where you are at the time (which could be two different parties in two different places and jurisdictions well outside of planet Hong Kong) as well in how you obtain the information.

Say you have two pilots--both employed in Hong Kong and on a Hong Kong contract--but one is in California and one is in London and they are chatting away on some private or semi-private chat group to each other. They are saying some non-complementary things about a company and that information is later brought to light somehow and used to intimidate or discipline. Depending on how you did it you may not only have breached privacy laws in one or both jurisdictions but also be guilty of a Felony. Or your policy itself (which you THINK is legal in Hong Kong) is NOT legal in the jurisdiction where people subject to it happen to be at the time (much like traffic laws in London might not be legal in California and it's where you happen to be driving at the time which counts). Makes no difference where they are employed or where they are from--or even what they do; the 'crime' occurred in London and/or California. And the mine you set goes off as you step on it yourself.

The truth always seems to get out somehow in these days of information. A much better approach (to me) is to have a job and working environment so awesome that people are breaking down the doors to get in. People working there WANT to tell others how great their job and employer is and get quality individuals on board. Then it really doesn't matter what some folks might think or say; the situation and evidence speaks for itself. Folks there wouldn't THINK of leaving, are happy, and invite their friends to come on board (rather than having to recommend they go elsewhere). THAT'S the situation you want to be in.

Edit: The 'Are you REALLY sure you want to do this' guy (or gal) is a valuable person to have in any organization. Perhaps we are lacking in this department.

[Lions Gate]

Cathay will establish the reputation they deserve amongst the pilot community. Needless to say, most of the world is well aware of the truth. CX management seem to think that merely stating a lie makes it fact. Maybe in the land of delusion they inhabit. The rest of us will make life affecting decisions based on fact, and the facts about CX say "STAY AWAY".

[joblow]

When I joined Cathay it was “the “ plum Aviation job to get, and unless you had someone already employed by CX prepared to vouch for you it was difficult even getting as far as an interview. The lineup of pilots applying was huge because CX had such a good reputation .
Fast forward a couple of decades and it’s sad to see what this once proud airline has become .
With social media , the internet ,and search engines , the information is out there for any prospective pilot . Housing is prohibitive, education costs an arm and a leg , the cost of living is wickedly high and the salaries are just not enough any more, to afford a standard of living that is comparable to your home base .
About the only thing that is free is the air and you can’t breath that 9 months of the year because it’s so polluted .

So yes wannabes rush to sign up , just don’t expect the contract that you sign today to be valid tomorrow. Enjoy sharing a box in Tung Chung with 3 or 4 others simply because you can’t afford to rent on your own .
We haven’t had a pay raise in so long I have forgotten when it was , but staff tickets somehow continue to go up ,and rents increase every time you renew a lease.

other than that it’s heaven on Earth we have a fabulous corporate culture , management love the aircrew and do everything they can to improve our lot in life, everyone is happy and the only people leaving are retirees . If you believe any of the last paragraph, I need to switch to the propaganda department become a manager of communications and award myself a huge Christmas bonus

[Freehills]

Quoting from People Leader:

The second thing is to understand why
our cabin and flight crew feel the way they
do about their jobs and their relationship
with the company. We plan to build better
engagement programmes with our
frontline people. We’re already running
focus groups for about 100 crew, pilots
and customer service people to listen to
their frustrations, as well as get ideas on
where we can improve. We will then build
a list of actions with the things we want to
change or do differently. That’s a priority
for 2018. Building better engagement and
communications with cabin crew and pilots
outside the confines of the traditional
industrial relations arena has to be done
to ensure a more sustainable and trusting
relationship builds on both sides.

28% was before 13th month. No doubt after the focus groups the engagement will now soar!

[Flex88]

Traf, stop thinking, it's against policy.

[Flex88]

Read that quote again, felt like vomiting :yuk:

[Flex88]

They just don't get it.. this moronic corporate gobbledygook double speak simply ads salt to the already severe wounds THEY have inflicted continuously for 25 years. Now they think this condescending corporate crap will make it better.. :ok:

[cxorcist]

My concern for the future survival of CX is rooted in the disconnect the management team seems to have with reality. They see numbers on a spreadsheet and little more, as if excel can tell the whole story. They are excruciatingly slow to recognize other factors and account for them.

CMP is a perfect example. CX is only interested in the productivity and efficiency enhancements that come from the program. What they fail to recognize, typically, is that crew preferences are a critical component. Pilots flying harder, more tightly compacted patterns will only “buy in” if they observe their seniority based preferences being honored. Otherwise, “sickness” rates stay sky high, but you can’t see that dynamic on a spreadsheet so it must not exist.

[Air Profit]

The sad thing is, they actually believe their own :mad: ! Someone needs to buy them a bigger shovel, as they obviously can't wait to dig this hole deeper and deeper. It reminds me of the crap you used to read in "Pravda" during the old Soviet days. Obviously, NONE of our managers understand the term "Epic Fail".

[mngmt mole]

To all of our managers who are spouting this garbage: Can you PLEASE, all of you, just shut the :mad: up. I don't know how much more of this :mad: I can take.

(out of curiosity, which 'pilots' are taking part in this 'focus group'? Bigger question: who amongst our ranks is idiotic enough to take part in this clown show?)

[Flex88]

CXorcist

They must know exactly the sickness rates as several months back they advertised for a "leadership position" for monitoring sickness rates in flight operations.. His/Her "spreadsheet" must be getting 1's n 0's all over the place. And of course as they now have a "leader" in place they must know everything. (pathetic)

[Dilbert68]

I just re-read George Orwell's 1984.

The parallels between CX management culture and those of the oppressors in the book are shockingly similar.

Definitely worth a read.

[crwkunt roll]

They just don't get it.. this moronic corporate gobbledygook double speak simply ads salt to the already severe wounds THEY have inflicted continuously for 25 years. Now they think this condescending corporate crap will make it better.. :ok:
Yet they continue to get away with whatever they want to say and do.

[Table For 1]

Like all totalitarian and despotic regimes, if it has reached the stage of attempting to ban free speech then the walls will come crumbling down fairly soon thereafter.


Goodbye Swires.

[Air Profit]

It doesn't much matter what you fly when you finally wake up and realise that all your efforts, time, life and health have been squandered in order to make the Swire family that little bit richer, at the expense of your own financial and physical health. Welcome to HK. Next stop, 'reality'.

[Soul planet]

Question,
is it legal to recruit cargo pilots on instagram?

[Freehills]

Why wouldn't it be? Can't see that is much different to an ad in Flight.

[Starbear]

Perhaps the question should be, is it legal to recruit pilots with lies?

[Soul planet]

Why wouldn't it be? Can't see that is much different to an ad in Flight.

Like from a personal account?
Imagine Morgan Freeman of Fedex

[Soul planet]

No, but more like using private account to sing praises and promote own company, give flying tutorials, showing cockpits and diff parts of the plane all while in uniform and during worktime. Just wondering if it's self motivation or green light by the company. Just wondering how legal is this?

[saraohyland]

There are seminal moments in CX where management actions speak louder than they intend. Take their new Social Media Policy.

This is in response to the catastrophic public reputation that CX now has around the world. Most pilots don't even consider applying to CX due to the well established attacks on aircrew, intimidation and bullying (like this new policy!), and the completely inadequate package on offer. A package that forces pilots to live like college students in a very small dormitory.

Even if a pilot hears about CX, and they haven't really availed themselves of the facts at that point, they quickly get the facts from this forum and many others. The new company policy is due to the panic that is setting in as they find they can't attract pilots, and are losing and will continue to lose many of the ones they already have. Interestingly, this attempt to 'censor' the pilot body is a classic sign of a failing regime, be it business or political.

The genie is out of the bottle, and it is comical that CX feels they can shut down worldwide communications and dissemination of information. To CX management: you can no more contain the truth than you can stop the tides. As they used to say on the "X-Files" series on TV....the "Truth is Out There".

Oh, and btw, the only thing that needs censoring are the lies and threats that emanate from CX city.
:))

[Yonosoy Marinero]

And to think that some were worried that Air China was going to take over and turn the whole thing into a mini version of the People's Party in Beijing but with airplanes...

[cxorcist]

Yeah, pretty sad when that actually sounds better than the status quo (Swire). Also, I never thought I’d see the day when hoards of CX pilots are leaving for low pay LCCs in their home countries. It wasn’t that long ago that everyone wanted to be at CX.

Lesson: never underestimate the ability of bad management to effectuate rapid negative change. As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day, but... Meanwhile, Nero fiddles.

[Lions Gate]

Just finished reading the AOA letters cautioning the pilots regarding their contributions to any 'social media'. The inference is that the company is so worried about the effect this is having on them that they are actually employing spy techniques to try and reveal the authors. Well, the Nazi party couldn't have been prouder of their modern day equivalent. It is obvious that CX's world wide reputation as en employer has been thoroughly trashed. It took them approximately 25 years to turn the most desirable airline job in the world into a hollow, decrepit joke (and not a very funny one at that). To our pathetic CX managers: I, and all of my close colleagues with whom I have spoken now see the soft underbelly of the beast, and you can be certain we will be attacking that daily. Your concern and panic regarding social media only highlights its effectiveness. You effectively ruined our profession in this part of the world and we don't take that lightly. My grandfather was injured in WW2 fighting the exact type of people whom you emulate. It would be a disgrace to cower under any attempt of subjugation and intimidation. I will spare you the 'fight on the beaches' speech, but you get the idea. I am appalled at the state of this airline, and even more appalled at the moral decrepitude and bullying displayed by her senior management. You can expect that not only will the social media 'problem' continue, but to intensify. There is no possible way you can control the truth, and it shall certainly shine it's light around the world to warn and educate the pilot community.

[Start Fore]

Well said Lions Gate, well said.

[Scoreboard]

umm sorry Lionsgate I saw the underbelly in '94 and watched it unfold that by the time I hit the 49ers I had become unionised and militant not just this company but basically the corporate culture that has grown over the last 25 years everywhere in the world.

I grew up anti union....I wanted to be in management having started my working career as a manager trainee before flying but watching this sniveling cowardly bunch do anything for a bonus and the next step.... up i opted out and just flew.

Now its at the point this airline is a real joke....its a fact that its not the airline to come to and this social media policy is just a another finger in the dyke by the retarded management to keep it together till their next bonus and get out of here.

When you start shooting the messengers that are trying to inform you of a different world you are on the slippery slope like most dictators....someone will replace you and you will get discarded quite horribly. But they dont get why we inform them we have issues. They want us compliant...but the actual nature of our positions is even the lowest Second officer sees something untoward on a flight deck they will say something and as Captains, even prideful ones, we are all human that have the potential to make mistakes and will recognize and respond in an effort to be safe.

Our current managers couldnt be humble even if you rewarded them a 10 year bonus. They will happily fly into that proverbial mountain no matter how many are screaming at them to turn.

[Soul planet]

What about a pilot video recording himself giving cockpit tutorials, showing off diff parts and equipment of a CX cargo plane, posting company routine and information on Instagram - is this legal or covered by social media policy? I would think recording how a cx 747 flightdeck functions and posting it public online is against company regulations! Am I right or wrong? If this is legal, then everyone of us could film ourselves starting our planes, giving tours of our bunks, showing the world how we get ready from the hotel and so on.... Esp this pilot has more than 5000 followers online, could this be a breach? If its a breach, can someone advice this guy before he gets into deep trouble?

[Adambrau]

I lived in HKG 1991-1992 and CX was the airline of standard. I have read so many threads here on the polarization of the front line versus management. Seems another showcase of the American lines, except the American lines started in-fighting first and have returned to pretty decent profitability after 20 years. Hopefully something will give but Cathay now reminds me of Eastern Airlines and the toxic management - employee relationship that brought down that carrier. Wishing CA/KA employees the best.

[BlunderBus]

The one thing holding this shambles together is salary...they will attack it in due course and that will be the incentive to move on. I live for the day they actually come up with an innovative original idea that shows some leadership ... were they at the back of the class at managers school flicking snot balls?

[joblow]

Soul planet , the individual that you refer to is a complete narcissist , constantly posting photos and videos online . Any number of pictures are taken at airports during his walk arounds . I just hope that he pays as much attention to his walk around as he does to taking selfies . But I was under the impression that taking photos at a large number of airports was forbidden

[cxorcist]

Just don’t post there. I have an account so I can read all the keyboard warriors blowing off steam in front of management, exactly as designed. These morons don’t realize that management set this up exactly for that purpose. This way they know exactly who is thinking what and when. Personally, I’d rather they didn’t know. We are a collective and the only opinion / action that matters is the one coming from us all, unless you wish to resign from the company or training. My two cents...

[Scoreboard]

I never even bothered here I knew what it was from the start.