SilkAir releases 8 expatriate pilots

[Lee]

In The Straits Times of 30 April 2003, Home Section, page H4,

"Yesterday, its regional carrier SilkAir said it was releasing eight expatriate pilots in accordance with their terms of employment before their contracts ended, after suspending 35 weekly services as part of cost-cutting measures"

Fellow ppruners please take note of the carefully worded statement from The Straits Times, there is no mention of retrenching but releasing the pilots.

Is this a face-saving measure too?

[thegypsy]

Releasing as being let out of prison is that what you mean???:ok:

[Lee]

Those are not my words, the word "releasing" was used by The Straits Times, Transport Reporter, Nicholas Fang!

I would have used "retrenched" or "laid off" (in the past tense).

So I ask again, is this a face-saving measure?

[Dixi Normus]

The newspapers are just an instrument of the political regeime in Singland. Of course it is a "face saving" thing!! The government don't even recognize that there is an unemployment problem.

[stable approach]

Perhaps " released " is used because " retrenched " can hardly be used when four expats more recently employed on lesser terms will be remaining in the company.

[greybeard]

Gidday,

They have also "released" 5 Expats from the 310 and at least 2 from the 340.

Too old for fleet change in only some cases?

No 310 Expat has as of today got any known course date, so limbo on 31 May as the fleet is planned to cease then.

:ok:

[combi pilot]

I detect some resentment in the air...

How does an airline and its group of companies which has lost nearly half of its pax load recover from this crisis?

Releasing the expats first are just another one of the many cost cutting measures being taken. I'm no company stooge to defend the sacking (or maybe "release") of staff but I've seen the extent of their cost cutting measures. Have you walked through an office corridor that is only half-lit in the afternoon so the company can save on its electricity bill? Even the bird logo signboard has been switched off at night.

So far we seem to be only talking about the flight crew - what about the other lower graded - but certainly not any lesser - staff who have been let go, and particularly those who sit in fear of losing their jobs? Rumours are flying around hard and fast about a paycut of up to 20%.

These are uncertain times and my sympathies go out to those who have lost their jobs. I'm just buckling up to weather the storm... Who knows what the future will bring?

[FougaMagister]

Hey, Combi, get real!
If any European airline would even dream of firing foreigners in preference to their nationals when the s..t hits the fan, that would be illegal! The only thing they could do would be to implement a "last in, first out" policy regardless of nationality.

Flight crew, be they local or expatriate, are NOT a commodity.
It's about time you guys "somewhere in the Orient" got out of your 20th-Century nationalistic bias...

[thegypsy]

FM What you do not seem to realise is that when you join an Airline as an ex-pat your services can be terminated for no reason usually just by being given 3 months notice or salary in lieu. That is how it has always been and seniority means nothing and obviously one would expect us 'foreigners' to be got rid of first of all in any downturn as we cost more than locals and afterall it is their Airline and we have no employment rights or protection,not that the locals have either in most Airlines.

When you leave Europe/US etc you enter a totally different world.

[John Barnes]

You got that right Gypsy. I just looked at the expat contract and it is as clear as ever. The company has the right to terminate your services with a three month notice period. So far the company offers three month salary to the crews they have terminated. So what is the big deal. You just go out to the airport and have a good look at the check in counters and you realise that this time there is a real problem. And by the looks of it this is just the beginning of a long and downward spiral of jobcuts all over the board. Time to tighten these expat belts!!

[Thermal Image]

TheGypsy:

"FM What you do not seem to realise is that when you join an Airline as an ex-pat your services can be terminated for no reason usually just by being given 3 months notice or salary in lieu. "

You suggest by your post that only expats are at the mercy of this clause. Perhaps you have not seen a local's contract.

I am a local and my contract also has this clause. While I have not seen every single contract, I expect that most if not all pilots with SIA have this clause.

When the SQ006 pilots were terminated the SIA spokesman said to the Straits Times that the pilots being terminated had this clause in their contract, so as such no reason was needed to terminate them.

Remember, if it is in the Straits Times, it must be true!

[G.Khan]

Not 100% certain on this but I think you will find that the Singapore Government Labour Laws, under which the pilot's contract is issued, states that in the event of redundancy then expatriates have to go before locally employed staff.

From previous experience SIA will want to apply the 'first-in-last-out' policy according to type of contract, so, a foreigner employed after an expatriate but on local terms may be retained if they don't apply redundancy to that group, but an expatriate could be terminated even though he has been employed longer.

That said, SQ will proably have their very own unique way of getting rid of people, quite possibly the most expensive first, regardless of when they joined!

[Lee]

Thermal Image,

The ****ty Times, oops I mean The Straits Times would love to adopt your slogan for advertising. You better start to make them an offer they can't refuse!

"If it is in The Straits Times, it must be true!"

[thegypsy]

Thermal Image I did say that the locals in most Airlines also had not much protection either.

As for those SQ6 Pilots you surely do not think they could expect anything other than termination??? They had to go IMHO '.Sorry I will do better next time' is not an option.
Also expats have' term' contracts unlike locals in SIA so apart from having the 3 months notice they can just choose not to renew one's contract,so I think it fair to say that ex-pats have less job security,at least in SIA.

I doubt if 'last in first out' will apply in SIA's case as they do not value loyalty,more an excuse to rid themselves of those in their little black book and those with large services increments and with children at expensive schools perhaps???? I think I had better start packing my bags!! SIA do however hate letting people go who are still under 'Bondage' as they seem to think we are getting something for nothing . Time will tell if things get any worse.

[Thermal Image]

Lee,

>>The ****ty Times, oops I mean The Straits Times would love to adopt your slogan for advertising. You better start to make them an offer they can't refuse!

I confess that I only parrot this phrase. The first time I heard it was in the late 80s when an ex-scholar had just left the RSAF to return to the commercial world. We were making small talk about air force incidents when he very seriously said:

"If it's in the Straits Times, then it must be true".

Yes perhaps I'd better start looking for some other day job.

The Gypsy,

>>Thermal Image I did say that the locals in most Airlines also had not much protection either.

Yes I missed it. I must be a good specimen of local upbringing, only able to read direct instructions from on high and somewhat poor at reasoning, particularly when long sentences are involved.

>>As for those SQ6 Pilots you surely do not think they could expect anything other than termination??? They had to go IMHO '.Sorry I will do better next time' is not an option.

It's not that I had expected them to stay on. But for the company to rely on that clause as "the official reason" was somewhat lame.

>>Also expats have' term' contracts unlike locals in SIA so apart from having the 3 months notice they can just choose not to renew one's contract,so I think it fair to say that ex-pats have less job security,at least in SIA.

I'm not sure about expats having less job security than locals. Locals have so far demonstrated an incredible lack of mobility, in terms of working for other airlines. For whatever reasons. In any case, the option not to renew can be exercised by either party, correct? Also, since the least denominator is the magical 3-month clause, in effect in means that everyone, expat and local, can only count on 3-months supply of cash at worst.

[422]

SQ is famous for breaking contract so what is new here..

They leave so much empty space between wordings that

the whole contract can be changed immediately..

So working for SQ is quite risky at all times..

Just be prepared to Fight back whenever they start acting

funny with contracts..

Remember, contracts are only for the Employee not the employer

.... employer reserve the right is change and terminate

even if it says 3 months , somewhere...

[thegypsy]

Thermal Image You are confusing locals lack of mobility which is totally different to an ex-pat having less job security. Yes as an ex-pat I can return home or seek a job elsewhere,whereas I recognise in Singapore you are giving up one hell of a lot by leaving. As PM Goh says are you a stayer or a quitter?? How about his daughter???

However in SIA Locals have permanent contracts and yes you can be terminated at 3 months notice but in practice this only happens to locals such as the SQ6 incident and say the A310- which went off the end of the runway at Kuching. In all other respects you are fairly safe in your employment.
As for SIA's reasoning behind terminating the SQ6 pilots we all know why they were terminated so what clause SIA want to put on it is really irrelevant.

I cannot believe that any locals will be terminated in the present crisis until all ex-pats have gone.

[Le Pilot]

In early 88 I had the opportunity to dine on a personal level with SIA's Training boss (LM) 12 guests (10 Singaporeans)

His reply to a gentleman that was enquiring why SIA needed so many expats was " The foreigners deserve every cent we pay them because SIA give no guarantee of long term employment"

Well SIA havn't laid off anybody for a long time. The blokes who got the chop this time can consider themselves unlucky.

[twitchy]

EXPATS Bad times ahead guys..............

Time to tighten your pants and save every dollar you have......

[twitchy]

I heard that there is a mad rush at Silk Air to convert on the Local Terms from Expat, any truth in that

[Thermal Image]

thegypsy:

>>Thermal Image You are confusing locals lack of mobility which is totally different to an ex-pat having less job security. Yes as an ex-pat I can return home or seek a job elsewhere,whereas I recognise in Singapore you are giving up one hell of a lot by leaving. As PM Goh says are you a stayer or a quitter?? How about his daughter???

Whatever you want to call it, "job security" to the locals usually means: fly for SIA or don't fly, whereas to the expats it usually means: fly for SIA or someone else, but still fly. This is based on my observation that expats come and go but remain pilots (most of the time). Locals come and go but once they go they stop flying (most of the time). Not talking about retirement or medical reasons here, but change of employer.

>>However in SIA Locals have permanent contracts and yes you can be terminated at 3 months notice but in practice this only happens to locals such as the SQ6 incident and say the A310- which went off the end of the runway at Kuching. In all other respects you are fairly safe in your employment.

The contract is not quite "permanent". It does not have an end date, but this does not quite make it "permanent". Either party can give 3 months notice or payment in lieu. How permanent can that be? The clause to terminate the contract is there, just because it has not been exercised much (until now) does not mean it will not be used.

"Safe in your employment" is a mere perception at best, particularly now.

>>I cannot believe that any locals will be terminated in the present crisis until all ex-pats have gone.

I haven't looked at the payscales lately. Do expat payscales start only after the local payscales end? Or is there an overlap? Because BSK had intimated (around the time he came on board)that he just can't see what value some locals add - referring to those at the top of their payscales, being ordinary line captains, grumpy and troublesome.

That could mean he'd rather sack these useless decrepit locals rather than expats who may cost less.

[thegypsy]

Thermal Image Yes indeed I am sure SIA would like to get rid of the most expensive Pilots ie those on the top scale who are mostly Locals,but there would be an uproar from those usually 'subservent' pilots I think that even the CEO could not ignore.

Expats are on the same payscales as locals,but have rent allowance and education allowance ,and an ex-pat allowance,whilst all locals are in the CPF scheme whereas only expats who have been in SIA for about 7 years or more are in it. The others are in the PF scheme which costs SIA less and those who have joined in the last 18months or so have no scheme at all,so depending on whether they have children at school they are very cheap Pilots indeed,so in pure 'Economic ' terms those last in are the lowest paid.
Locals progress to the top scales whilst very few ex-pats will ever get anywhere near them.
The difference between the lowest payscale and the top is huge,far greater than in most Airlines and I guess now is the time for SIA to attack this.SIA will as always take full advantage of this crisis to further erode the T&C of all Pilots,which one of the 'armchair' Generals hates with a passion.

[Thermal Image]

Thegypsy:

>>Thermal Image Yes indeed I am sure SIA would like to get rid of the most expensive Pilots ie those on the top scale who are mostly Locals,but there would be an uproar from those usually 'subservent' pilots I think that even the CEO could not ignore.

Hmm, I think the wail of axed locals will be drowned by the sound of adding machines ringing. I'm sure you know by now that money talks in SIA. The folks who crafted the payscales have only themselves to blame for building up such a spread between base and ceiling. Payback time.

Now that these old farts are way more expensive than perhaps mid level expats, it's time for them to take early retirement. The facts of how much they cost the company will be hard to ignore, especially for those who are nothing more than old line captains (with nothing that can be used to beef up their argument that should stay, compared to captains earning less but holding more productive appointments such as instructional posts).

Seems you noticed too that BSK does not have too much fondness for certain old farts who have more than passed their sell-by date.

[G.Khan]

I think you will find that many of the 'Old Farts', as you choose to call them, went to school with today's senior Generals and Cabinet Ministers and will enjoy considerable 'protection', not to mention the Singapore Labour Laws, re Locals and Expats.

[Thermal Image]

G.Khan:

>>I think you will find that many of the 'Old Farts', as you choose to call them, went to school with today's senior Generals and Cabinet Ministers and will enjoy considerable 'protection', not to mention the Singapore Labour Laws, re Locals and Expats.

Let just imagine for these old farts sake that their claim makes sense. Just perhaps one of them went to school with PM Goh, who was born in 1941. Even if PM Goh mixed with schoolmates 2 years his junior, such an old fart should be retiring from SIA this year. What 'protection' does he have?

SM Lee Kuan Yew was born 1923. Can anyone in SIA claim to be his contemporary?

Lee Hsien Loong was born 1952. If indeed any of his contemporaries are tech crew, BSK would be savvy enough not to hassle them.

Tony Tan (the minister, not the pilot) was born 1940, not likely that any of his contemporaries are still in SIA tech crew.

Same for S Jayakumar, born 1939.

Lee Yock Suan, Wong Kan Seng, born 1946. Yeo Cheow Tong, Lee Boon Yang, Lim Boon Heng, 1947. Mah Bow Tan, 1948.

George Yeo, Lim Hng Kiang, Teo Chee Hean, 1954. David Lim, Yaacob Ibrahim, 1955. Lim Swee Say, 1956.

If the SIA old farts think that the establishment will protect them, they are dreaming. Why does BSK barely conceal his contempt for them then?

[G.Khan]

ThermalImage As one who retired from SIA, aged sixty, a couple of years ago, I quite naturally take exception to you regarding old and experienced pilots as 'old farts', the fact that we are all making our way to retirement should tell you something, unless you are from that breed of wunderkind that already know it all?

You said:
"Lee Hsien Loong was born 1952. If indeed any of his contemporaries are tech crew, BSK would be savvy enough not to hassle them".
My point exactly, and neither you nor I have any idea how many or who that could include.

Far more likely though they will be protected by the Singapore Labour Laws.

Oh yes, one other point, hope you have permission to publish that list of pilots names here on this bulletin board? Without such permission they could cut up rough!

[Thermal Image]

GKhan,

Aiyoh, I don't know you lah so how can I be referring to you?

Tsk tsk so sensitive...

My reference to old farts is not a blanket description. If you think it refers to you, well, what can I say? My previous posts will have a clearer definition of who I am talking about. It certainly does not refer to everyone nearing retirement.

>>Oh yes, one other point, hope you have permission to publish that list of pilots names here on this bulletin board? Without such permission they could cut up rough!

That list comes from
http://www.cabinet.gov.sg/

I think they'd be insulted if they knew you thought they worked for SIA as pilots. Looks like you don't know who your local colleagues were. Same goes for your knowledge of Singapore Labour Law.

[thegypsy]

Thermal Image I don't think BSK particularly dislikes older pilots or those with 'flatulence',he dislkes ALL pilots with equal venom which he finds as aviation worldwide takes a downward slide gives him more confidence to do whatever he wants now.

The financial results for year to 31st March will be announced soon,and my guess is they will be above $1 Billion after tax,which should produce a good bonus. The big question is will SIA find some clause in the small print of the CA to wriggle out of paying this bonus claiming exceptional circumstances?????

Certainly if we get the Bonus you can be sure it will be given in one hand and taken away with the other!!

[G.Khan]

Thermal Image Sorry!:D

Some of the names looked very familiar but after two years this old fart's memory isn't so good!

Still think you will find that the local labour Laws will say that Expats. should go before Nationals, possibly also say that last in first out is the usual form for applying redundancy. Lets hope it doesn't come to that and prospects look better soon.

Yep, we may well have flown together! I did ten years on the 744.:ok:

[Lee]

G.Khan,

You claimed that you worked at SQ for ten years on the 744 and yet you don't know who "Lee Kuan Yew" is! (Then I don't expect you to know about "Lee Yock Suan, or Lim Swee Say")

Any pilot in SQ, let alone one who claimes to have worked here for 10 years knows!

Are you just giving excuses? Like your failing memory or something else?

I really doubt you know anything about Singapore, Singapore Airlines let alone its labour laws!

[G.Khan]

For a non Singaporean the names of the Cabinet are really quite irrelevant and I doubt many of the expats. who are in SIN now could get very far down the list! Very different for a Singaporean.

Yes I do know who Lee Kuan Yew is and a couple of the others, like his son and the Prime Minister, I confused Mah Bow Tan with another Mah and got it all wrong from there on!

When getting ready to leave Singapore I had to get some documents authenticated by a Notary Public and the solicitor who did it talked a bit about the labour laws, as I said earlier, I was not 100% certain but what I have said is what I understood from him.

See your Private Messages for authentication!

Cheers, GK.

[thegypsy]

Lee Reference G.Khan He claims to be 'a rich womans plaything' so he lives in a fantasy world I suspect,so don't take too much notice of what he says!!:O

[G.Khan]

Quite a cheap shot Gypsy, pathetic really, these little 'extras' under one's ID are intended as jokes but indicate that the person has paid a contribution to the running of the BB, something you might like to consider?

[thegypsy]

G.Khan My My we are touchy today!! I note that you also took exception to Thermal Image's reference to 'old farts'. I suggest you lighten up old man and stop being so tetchy about everything.
On another thread I was fascinated to hear that your sister was a Headmistress of a girls boarding school,but could not see the relevance of my knowing that.

[OZZY AIRBORNE]

After several years of reading pprune, it never ceases to amaze me how people like "LEE" and "the gypsy" can make sweeping judgements on character and even employment details, based on a few lines in a post. Maybe they should look for a job in police profiling, because that kind of jumping to conclusion and misplaced sarcasm has no place on the flight deck.
As for the subject of "old farts" you have to ask yourself how did they get to be old farts, and the answer is by keeping a clean sheet over several years of safe flying. There is no substitute for experience whatever the "young guns" may think.

A couple of questions for "thermal image".
1. Are you seriously suggesting that the Singapore cabinet make decisions on redundancy and day to day discipline in SIA? I suggest that these decisions will be made much lower down the food chain.
2. With your intimate knowledge of the airline, why do you list your location as Beijing

[thegypsy]

OZZY AIRBORNE or perhaps Ozzy Ozborne would be more appropriate???!!

First of all I was not aware we were on the flight deck! Too many magic mushrooms perhaps??

With regard to SIA. PM Goh personally intervened after 9/11 when SIA pleaded poverty and the CEO made a very public statement saying he was taking a 15% paycut,followed in quick succession by all his management acolytes,and all other staff who have no representation.

We the Pilots through Alpha-S wanted to see the small print before we agreed and also we wanted to see what the profits for the year were,and then we would have ageed to a backdated paycut if there was no profit. { If SIA make less than $1 Billion profit they claim poverty!!!!!}

Because everyone else took a paycut PM Goh intervened and basically told us to take a paycut or ELSE!!!
We all took this paycut and loss of a years service increment amd lo and behold SIA made $650 Million profit despite a $300 million write off on AirNZ/Ansett due to the CEO not being thorough enough in going through the books. He just assumed that Ansett must be a guaranteed goldmine because it had a duopoly in the internal OZ market .

We all took a unnecessary paycut in view of the profit made.

I don't think one can get much higher up the food chain of SIngapore Gov't than that do you??? Perhaps the SM??

[Thermal Image]

OZZY AIRBORNE

>>A couple of questions for "thermal image".
>>1. Are you seriously suggesting that the Singapore cabinet >>make decisions on redundancy and day to day discipline in >>SIA? I suggest that these decisions will be made much lower >>down the food chain.
>>2. With your intimate knowledge of the airline, why do you list >>your location as Beijing

Q1: See posting from GKhan 5th May 2003 23:24 and posting from me 6th May 2003 02:50.

Then please show me where I am suggesting that "the Singapore cabinet make decisions on redundancy and day to day discipline in SIA" .

My post of 6th May 2003 02:50 was to show:
a. how likely / unlikely it was that local crew who were candidates for "early retirement" were also contemporaries of ministers and
b. even if so, how likely / unlikely they would be spared simply because they were contemporaries of said ministers.

May I summarise it in one sentence: said ministers are likely to be NOT INTERESTED even if their SQ contemporaries are laid off. Now do you get it? Maybe you are one of those insecure types who make bizzare interpretions of innocent remarks and turn them into personal attacks.

Remember how we have a sensitive colleague who sued his fellow club member for defamation when at a club dinner that person remarked and raised his glass to him saying: "enjoy your free food". This colleague felt that this toast / roast was a suggestion that he was too cheap to pay for his own food. Of course he lost the lawsuit. This action was reported in The Straits Times, and like I said, if it is in The Straits Times, it must be true.

Q2: Is it relevant why I list my location as Beijing? May I refer to your claim: "After several years of reading pprune,...".

Have you not seen what some of the members state as their "locations"? Is it meant to be taken seriously? Although GKhan and I may disagree, we don't take our disagreements to heart. If you are able to comprehend my posts, you will note that I don't even take myself seriously. Perhaps you have a different sense of humour. Therefore, why is it relevant at all why I state Beijing as my location, in connection with my "intimate knowledge of the airline"?

About your remark: "Maybe they should look for a job in police profiling, because that kind of jumping to conclusion and misplaced sarcasm has no place on the flight deck."

Are you yourself not already "jumping to conclusion" with your "misplaced sarcasm"? There is at least one ex-cop in SQ tech crew, I think he'd be most offended by your trivialisation of profiling.

And (knock-knock) have you noticed, this is a forum, not a flight deck?

Just because you think that LEE and thegypsy "jump to conclusion" and spew "misplaced sarcasm" here, what makes you so sure they must also be like that on the flight deck? Are you not making "sweeping judgements on character" yourself?

Do you even know any of us? Do you know how the Internet / Internet forum works? Must we be the self same individuals here and also in real life? If you are so serious, use your real name and staff number!

It does look like you have weak comprehension skills. Look for who I refer to as "old fart". If you can't find it in my post of 5th May 2003 07:27, then here it is: "those at the top of their payscales, being ordinary line captains, grumpy and troublesome".

By your saying: "As for the subject of "old farts" you have to ask yourself how did they get to be old farts, and the answer is by keeping a clean sheet over several years of safe flying", I think you must be referring to other senior, respectable, pleasant and meritorious colleagues. Obviously we aren't talking about the same old farts here. Again, if such worthy colleagues got to hear about how YOU refer to them, they'd be rather unimpressed.

"There is no substitute for experience whatever the "young guns" may think."

Ooo, where did that come from? I did not make any comments about their experience. How is your remark relevant? Your remark suggests that "young guns" have no respect. Are you a little (or a lot) insecure with how "young guns" see you?

[Lee]

Ozzy Airborne,

Re: Your remarks, "jumping to conclusion" and "misplaced sarcasm has no place on the flight deck"

Aren't you not jumping to conclusion yourself with your misplaced sarcasm?

May I remind you, if you point your finger at someone, you are pointing three fingers at yourself.

BTW, am I on the flight deck? Or is this Pprune?

You ok or not?

[OZZY AIRBORNE]

Lee.
Grow up...........can or not??

The Gypsy
1. Learn to spell!!.........Osbourne.
2. Do you switch off your obnoxious personality when you get back on the flight deck, or are you just like this on pprune?
3.I said day to day running of the airline.......do you think the P.M. really decides redundancy and discipline matters?
4. Thanks for the history lesson......boring repetition helps me get to sleep.

[Lee]

Ozzy Airborne

This is not the place to make personal attacks. Why don't you PM me and set things straight and final?

[thegypsy]

OZZY AIRBOuRNE I see you wish you join the list of a***holes picking up on minor spelling errors!!! I have therefore added an 'u' in your name so that it matches that of the other Ozzy. I don't think he would like being compared to him as being 'obnoxious' Do you really know the meaning of the word I wonder???

Your remarks to Lee are pretty pathetic and I can see nothing in any of our messages that warrant such loutish behaviour from you.:{

PS The History lesson as you wish to call it was not for just your benefit but for the wider audience who may not know what has been going on in SIA.
PPS Do you still have a Beard??

[Moonraker2003]

If I may put in my 2 cents worth, considering the way you guys rant & rave being professionals, my suggestion is to enrol in some real CRM courses,special on module 5 ( cultures)

[twitchy]

Yes SIA is having the CRM coarses going on next month for its pilots, so you all can enrole there

[Lee]

twitchy

The CRM must be very rough! Ha Ha Ha.

[greybeard]

SIA CRM.

Yes they are being held, a very necessary part of "normal" Airline life and probably needed even more at the moment to ensure safety is not compromised in the current "Industrial situation".

Culture is important also, the local culture is to shed all the overseas based Pilots followed by the locally employed Expat Captains to be replaced with foreign nationals on "local" terms.
This is allowed for in the CA in force at this time, already happening it is "rumoured" in Silk Air.

???? who do the F/Os fly with if you sack only Captains.

Sia has already shed at least 8 Expats as well, some being too "old" to qualify for fleet upgrade, some for NSR, and has left a number on the 310 in limbo with no course date or so called future after the 310 ceases as of 31 May.

The offer made by HR was to retire early, and pay back your training bond if still applicable, or VNPL with no travel, no ability to work elsewhere, no expat housing allowance, or CNPL effective as a 20-25% pay cut or retrenchment.

The association bless their little hearts are mulling this all over and will lean toward the Culture option I feel.

So now what happens when things pick up as they have over the last 40+ years I have been in this Industry, you don't get all of the ones you retrench back, you have a reputation as a "poor" employer and tend to get people who are lower on the food chain than the ones who left.

I will miss the flying but not the job and sadly not SIA after 10 years, I was terminated by a 'phone call after a flight, standing in the FCC so that, as I was going on leave I would be able to start my notice not have the Company need to pay me another week??

I have had nasty tastes before, this one will be spat out in time, but it was a nice touch after 10 years.

As for CRM, I'll be there as my love of the task is above the crap that this place and others in '89 can dish out

Sui Generus.

C YA

:ok:

[Gnadenburg]

greybeard

Have enjoyed and found your CRM contributions on Pprune professionally helpful.

Don't forget the pprune median. A silent and greatful crowd of CRM students.


The Singaporian way of business is copping a backlash in countries where they attempt foreign investment.

The treatment of the Silk Air expats probably lost them their last 16000 supporters in Australia.

[highcirrus]

greybeard

You have been treated with the characteristic shabbiness for which SQ is rightly famous.

I note with considerable respect that your professionalism allows you to rise above the “slings and arrows” of outrageous fortune dished out since ’89 by SQ and others and that you still feel enough motivation to pass on the CRM fruits of your many years flying experience, once you move on from the Republic of Greed.

I feel sure that distance, time and reflection will lend only commiseration with the fate of all those left behind and those misguidedly to yet join SQ, on the increasingly poor terms & conditions to be offered. Our only compensation is the realisation that we are, in the main, honourable professionals and that those set above us are not.

The very best of good luck in the future.