AMSA's future
 

Hearing reports of AMSA (Aircraft Maintenance Services Australia)
that their future is in the balance... word has it that they have lost the MAS contract in Mel to JHAS with Syd to follow.
Apparently the EK contract is tetering as well???
Can anyone elaborate??

The VB A330 contract will save them.

Should be plenty of work there! I'm told they are the oldest, most trouble ridden in the entire EK fleet. But I guess they were cheap!

they will have to get it first...

I heard that James Holland had the VB 330 contract??

Apparently Qantas engineering is looking for customers. :rolleyes:

suprise suprise....qf international did have a customer a couple of days ago air india charter flt to bne to pick up the commwealth games people.....a nice b777er have not seen "the palace in the skies"for some time...out shopping for more steak knives :)

Throw in Tassie and you may get some takers.Although once bitten......

Apparently word is that AMSA's 457 visa imports had to be sent home last week due to management incompentence not keeping their visa's legal.
Emergency replacements were sent down last weekend......
Top way to run a business considering the calibre of customers they are dealing with EK,TG,MH,VA,SQ,UU...
Interesting to see how long they can keep this up!!! :=

Amsa Forever
 

AMSA will never go down.
The mother ship SIAEC won't let it happen,

Not 457 Visas, but Business and Tourist Visas is my understanding - very naughty:=
AMSA is also bleeding staff because SIAEC management cannot get it into their heads that they do not offer a competitive payrates and you can screw your employees only so much.
Training is also laughable. If it is offered to the locals at all, SIAEC management have seen fit to attach ever increasing bonds, in the vain hope that it will discourage staff from leaving after accepting much better offers ($20,000 to $50,000 better - not peanuts!). I have heard one fellow being told that if he wants to go on an A380 course, the bond will be $75,000.00. What planet do these managers come from? :ugh:

I have heard that SASCO are offering training with bonds of up to 100K sing. I think it is the new style up there! Lets fight this peoples. AMSA should be training local Aussie staff and paying better rates than airlines!

Yeah all the guys that they got from the Emirates closure in Syd are now on the march!!!

Guess this is only a sign of things to come::ok:

All is not lost,management cleanout and name change coming:ok:

Who did they get from the Emirates closure?

2 engineers went to Jetstar
1 engineer to Virgin Atlantic
1 engineer to Dubai

2 or 3 mechanics to Jetstar
1 mechanic to Abu Dhabi
1 to Brissy?
1 mechanic to become flying spanner?

As I said on the SYD EK engineers' thread:

3 AME's.... they are not very happy chappies!!!

AMSA's trip to the S bend is accelerating!
50% of BNE Line LAME's resigned last week and at least one in MEL has to. More to come...

The trip to the "S" bend only requires half a flush!!!:D

It would help if the AMSA Engineers joined a union.

Most of the ROUND eyes there are Lames but only paid as Ames $28/hr
and treated like :mad: You would treat your dog better!!
I believe there are a couple of round eye members here...

Speaking with an Ame there the other day he says there is no structure in the operation.. There is no induction or competence assessment before being counted as manpower and when things go pear shape the knives are immediately drawn on the ROUND eye AMES.. The shifts they are rostered on doesnt equate for anything and are just expected to go over their rostered hours..:ugh:

And to add to that they continue to bring in yellow people from SIN
for licence cover on Business and Tourist visas!!:=


Sounds like the place is a major accident waiting to happen:}

Bellcrank,

Just a thought......How many "white" people do you think have previously taken long service leave from their airline in Oz, travelled into Singapore (or Malaysia for that matter) entered on a tourist visa, and done a 2-3 month contract with ST or SASCO (MAS in Malaysia).

Far from condoning what is happening, I am merely stating that this type of thing happens regularly around the world, and dare I say it this type of situation is continually taken up by Oz LAME's travelling out of Oz for their own benefit.

It is new to Oz, that is all. Nobody likes change unless it benefits themselves.

Before you reply that it is in contravention of the employment laws of Oz, I will agree with you. However it is also against the employment laws in Singapore (and Malaysia) yet still the Ozzies willingly do it.

GB

G B's,

Glad someone bought this up.

Not only illegally working, but cutting chances of locals and genuine connies of employment, overtime and courses.:=.

It goes deeper.................if anyone wants to open the can...:oh:

SIAEC
 

LGW
True you can't work illegally at SIAEC it doesn't, won't, and can't happen.
I don't know about ST or SASCO but doubt it would happen there either.
Malaysia well thats a different story.
As for SIAEC Line Maint most of the LAEs there are very competant.
But the youngsters they are sending to Oz are very green.

Gasbags,

Point taken here.... i still think it stinks!!!!:ugh:

It goes deeper...much deeper as now all the local staff have to provide proof of citizenship as the company has nil idea of who actually works for them.

Resignations
 

I heard there have been a few guys resigning at Tulla and BNE in the last few weeks?:{

Confirmed two line guys with critical coverage in BNE going, also two guys from JMCC (VAUS Maint watch) could be on the march too for VB A330 project.. Why wouldnt they with AMSA's conditions...:yuk:

Have heard unofficially one B777 guy from MEL gone too.:ok::D

red dog leader
 

here here!

Gas Bags

The maximum penalty for overstaying your visa or working illegally in Singapore is 3 strokes of the cane. The penalty for renting your home to someone who is overstaying his visa or abusing his tourist visa for other purposes, is jail. I doubt SIAEC or ST Aero are merrily allowing people to work for them illegally.

It is generally not difficult for large companies to hire foreign workers, so there would probably be little reason for SIAEC or ST Aero not to do so through legal means.

Hi everyone, long time reader.

Was talking to someone in the know the other day that apparently AMSA/SIAEC aren't to happy paying the local LAME's (too expensive apparently) and that they are looking into setting up a local SIAEC LAME base in SYD, that would predominantly handle the Aussie Op's, but also provide relief/support for SIAEC USA and the SIAEC/Gulf Air contract in Bahrain.

Word is they would be fresh blood not long out of the training school, but with all the right qualifications of course. The numbers mentioned regarding their pay was unbelievibly low, like less than a AME low.

Not good news for the rest of us, hopefully this doesn't come to be, or the rumour is false, but it was from a good source.

They would likely advertise at 50k pa (less than AME rate) and find nobody. Then they would ship in Asians at a low rate under the 457 rules claiming that they were unable to find any Australians to do the job.

Siaec Joint Ventures
 

SIAEC have several so called joint ventures, Bahrain with Gulf Air and at Clark in the Philippines with Cebu Pacific. I have a feeling there are others as well, i just can't remember now? But both these are hangar operations.
Bahrain has 160 odd SIAEC staff working in Bahrain on some sort of "posting conditions".
Of course the locals(Singaporeans) are only too happy to get away from main base, you can't blame them for that.
Young SIAEC LAEs only get paid $2500-$2800 SGD a month, but they get other bits n pieces, like transport allowance and they have the CPF fund which i don't understand.
So lets say $3K SGD/mth (nice round numbers) that's approx $28K AUD a year.
Tax in S'pore is 8%, food is cheap, everything else expensive.
I don't think SIAEC management is stupid, so i can only assume that this is an exercise in making money (isn't everything in S'pore ! )
The big question is will the ALAEA and the immigration department stand back and let it happen.
It will be interesting to see how it all ends up !

The SIAECUSA A&P's in LAX that handle V Aus are only on about USD24/hr. :yuk: A lot of the guys are on furlough from some of the major airlines in the US and don't really have much of a choice. It sucks....

The fresh grad LAMES in SIAEC start at $2800 to $3000 but they also get very generous overtime (1.5x on Sat 2x on Sun and 1.5x after 6pm).

CPF is like Australian superannuation and that is a 16% contribution from the employer.

I don't know SIA's pay scale but I won't be surprised if it is the same as the Singapore civil service:

Fresh grad: $2800 to $3000
Next grade $4k
Next grade $5k
Next grade $6k
etc etc etc

Promotions come every 1-2 years. Without promotions, annual increments are 3% to 10%.

SIAEC paid out a bonus of 4.5 months last year, also as with most Singaporean companies they pay a 13th month in December. So the SIAEC staff were on 17.5 months of salary last year, giving the fresh grads an annual pay of S$52k without additional allowances. Tax on that with all the relevant deductions is about S$800 a year or 1.5%.

I'm not sure it is cheaper to fly people in from Singapore to do the work in Australia. I know the Singapore civil service rates for Australia are as follows:

S$124 per day (roughly A$100)
plus breakfast
plus transportation
plus lodging

If SIAEC has to pay that to people they post in from SIN, would they be better off? And anyway, I know for a fact the Senior LAMES earn a base of more than $10k per month, and many technicians in SIAEC drive very posh cars. And cars in SIN cost a bomb......

Siaec Postings
 

Thx for the info on SIAEC wages doc, very informative.
I think some of the LAEs who went to Oz and other places were on a special longterm package?
I don't know what it was, but it would be very interesting if you could find out.
Most of the guys said it wasn't enough, but for a young guy or girl who want to escape S'pore I guess they are willing to give it a try?
Australia isn't a cheap place to live, especially Sydney.
Income tax is also much higher in Oz.
Yes some of the EC technicians have nice cars and toys, but i also expect they have nice big loans to pay off as well.
Cheers !

Unfortunately I don't work for siaec so I cannot comment on their long term posting deal.

Most people will never say their pay package is enough. I have friends posted by singaporean companies on 2.5x pay plus housing transport and bonus and still say it is not enough to compensate for the trauma of living outside their comfort zone!!

Anyway I worked for a singapore govt linked company previously and the package for europe was 1.8x base pay plus transport and housing and tax equalisation. If siaec did the same for their staff in australia, they would need to pay perhaps 20pc cost of living adjustment plus tax equalisation plus housing and transport plus contribute to cpf in sin. I really cannot see how this would be cheaper than hiring an australian, but perhaps it allows siaec to deploy staff only when they are needed without taking on additional headcount!

In my previous job, colleagues were rejecting postings to europe at 1.8x salary plus accomodation and transport and tax equalisation because it was apparently not enough!

Everyone will fight for the best conditions for themselves, no matter where we hail from :)

AMSA job offer
 

Hi everybody,
i'm an italian LAE. I've been recently offered employment with AMSA in SYD. Having no experience at all of what i can expect from that company, i'll appreciate comments and suggestions!
Thanks!

Rumour has it that they will be moving into a nice new VB hangar in Sydney once it is built.

Yet another Singaporian tentacle being placed into the Australian aircraft maintenance scene.

AVIR
 

Don't expect too much from AMSA and you wont be too disappointed.
The worst management, worst pay, worst equipment.
Don't despair, just do what everybody else does.
Use it as a stepping stone.
When you find a better job just leave !