Attention Mr SP from SCMP
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Attention Mr SP from SCMP
Dear Mr P
As you have reported, industrial tensions between Cathay Pacific and its pilots are on the rise. I would ask for nothing more than a fair and balanced view of the current events.
You quote a Cathay Pacific spokesman as saying that they pay market salaries for pilots. A little investigation would find this to be an inaccurate statement. Cathay claim to pay the equivalent of an ex-pats legacy carrier + 10%, so as to attract the highest quality pilot. The truth is, a Hong Kong based pilot is paid the same as a Low Cost Carrier Pilot in their home country and significantly behind the legacy carriers Cathay refers to. In fact, because of the vagaries of inflation and currency, the basic salary of Hong Kong based pilots is less than their compatriots who are based in their home countries. There are Second Officers (not even a fully qualified co-pilot) in Qantas who earn as much as a junior Cathay Captain.
It has been reported that Cathay pilots rejected a 4 to 5% pay increase. The truth is that the 4 to 5% pay increase went to almost all employees, except the pilots! It terms of truthfulness the two are chalk and cheese!
It has been reported that Cathay Pilots have voted for “Contract Compliance” (CC). The missing fact, is that the vote was for CC to be implemented at the discretion of the HKAOA General Committee, should Cathay Pacific fail to negotiate in good faith. The truth is that Cathay has a long history of delaying tactics and intimidation, attempting to stall as long as possible, with the sole porpose being to offset any cost increases! This is again evident in their claim that the pilots are not negotiating in good faith if they have voted for CC. Unless correctly reported, this fact alone would seem to be true, but neglects the 15+ years of take, take, take by Cathay, that has led to this current situation.
Pilots are easy targets! The general impression is that they are all mega-millionaires living the high life. Again this is far from the truth. They are mostly conscientious, hardworking professionals who are given very little credit for the stressful, fatiguing and highly responsible job they do!
The job has been described as 99% boredom and 1 % sheer terror. It is that 1% that deserves the highest salary. Recent incidents in aviation would remind us that only thing that stands between a safe landing and a horrendous accident is the calm, cool, gentleman sitting up the front!
These days to be an elitist is almost a bad thing, but I would ask you, on a stormy night when something goes wrong, who do you want flying your aeroplane and do you think the cost of your tickets should include a percentage to get the best possible skill set in the front?
Sincerely
As you have reported, industrial tensions between Cathay Pacific and its pilots are on the rise. I would ask for nothing more than a fair and balanced view of the current events.
You quote a Cathay Pacific spokesman as saying that they pay market salaries for pilots. A little investigation would find this to be an inaccurate statement. Cathay claim to pay the equivalent of an ex-pats legacy carrier + 10%, so as to attract the highest quality pilot. The truth is, a Hong Kong based pilot is paid the same as a Low Cost Carrier Pilot in their home country and significantly behind the legacy carriers Cathay refers to. In fact, because of the vagaries of inflation and currency, the basic salary of Hong Kong based pilots is less than their compatriots who are based in their home countries. There are Second Officers (not even a fully qualified co-pilot) in Qantas who earn as much as a junior Cathay Captain.
It has been reported that Cathay pilots rejected a 4 to 5% pay increase. The truth is that the 4 to 5% pay increase went to almost all employees, except the pilots! It terms of truthfulness the two are chalk and cheese!
It has been reported that Cathay Pilots have voted for “Contract Compliance” (CC). The missing fact, is that the vote was for CC to be implemented at the discretion of the HKAOA General Committee, should Cathay Pacific fail to negotiate in good faith. The truth is that Cathay has a long history of delaying tactics and intimidation, attempting to stall as long as possible, with the sole porpose being to offset any cost increases! This is again evident in their claim that the pilots are not negotiating in good faith if they have voted for CC. Unless correctly reported, this fact alone would seem to be true, but neglects the 15+ years of take, take, take by Cathay, that has led to this current situation.
Pilots are easy targets! The general impression is that they are all mega-millionaires living the high life. Again this is far from the truth. They are mostly conscientious, hardworking professionals who are given very little credit for the stressful, fatiguing and highly responsible job they do!
The job has been described as 99% boredom and 1 % sheer terror. It is that 1% that deserves the highest salary. Recent incidents in aviation would remind us that only thing that stands between a safe landing and a horrendous accident is the calm, cool, gentleman sitting up the front!
These days to be an elitist is almost a bad thing, but I would ask you, on a stormy night when something goes wrong, who do you want flying your aeroplane and do you think the cost of your tickets should include a percentage to get the best possible skill set in the front?
Sincerely
Last edited by arse; 5th Dec 2010 at 10:38. Reason: formatting
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I also think it's time for the AOA to make it's own unilateral demand before continuing any negotiations:
"We, company management, leaders, communication personnel and all relevant individuals who make statements about such matters, agree that seniority-based pilot pay scale annual increments are not equivalent to pay rises and will never again be referred to as pay rises in any further communication. We agree that a pay increase for pilots occurs when the value of each pay increment is increased, not when a pilot moves up a step in the annual pay increments. We agree that, unlike all other employee groups in the company, major airline pilots throughout the world are part of a seniority-based career, lifestyle, promotion and pay system that is designed to retain very expensive and valuable training and experience gained by pilots during their careers at the company and prevents the company from becoming a revolving door "contractor pilot" airline. This is why, despite 10-20 years of previous experience before being hired at our company, we continue to invest in their training and qualifications for the long term and want to retain pilots until retirement to benefit from those investments and the value they bring to the company, and because it is so difficult, costly and time-consuming to replace pilots who leave and far more efficient to retain pilots with excellent pay and benefit that remain excellent.
We agree that pilots are paid much less early in their careers at the company and that we motivate and encourage them to stay with the company, rather than take their qualifications and experience to the highest bidder elsewhere, though the use of this seniority-based system that makes pilots want to invest decades of their lives at the company in order to attain the highest pay levels. This is very beneficial to the company, so we provide a table of annual pay increments and agree that increasing the value of that table from time to time, in a manner similar to pay rises given to other employee groups, is necessary in order to compensate for inflation, cost of living and to remain competitive in the market. In fact, we agree that doing so is more necessary for pilots than most employee groups, because of the value of the investment the company makes in each pilot as well as the risk the pilot takes in sticking with the company for decades while the option of changing airlines quickly becomes less and less valuable. We see this as a mutually beneficial situation that requires the proper level of company contribution.
Because we recognize that pilots are at the very front operational lines when it comes to the complex flying of our large fleet of large aircraft, and because pilots are the very final experts, professionals and authorities in the safe operation of our aircraft, we place tremendous value in pilots for upholding our #1 stated corporate priority, which is safety.
For the removal of any doubt, once again, we, the company, agree that an annual pay increment on the pilot pay scale is not a pay rise, but rather simply a step up the seniority-based pay system that is promised to pilots to reward their longevity and to increasingly encourage long careers at the company as the pilot becomes increasing more valuable as more and more investment by the company has been made in their ongoing training and experience, and as more and more risk has been taken by the pilots who choose to continue to offer their services to the company.
Furthermore, we will immediately issue a press release and a company-wide statement to clarify the misconception that we are responsible for creating in order to lower pilots' expectations of a pay rise."
"We, company management, leaders, communication personnel and all relevant individuals who make statements about such matters, agree that seniority-based pilot pay scale annual increments are not equivalent to pay rises and will never again be referred to as pay rises in any further communication. We agree that a pay increase for pilots occurs when the value of each pay increment is increased, not when a pilot moves up a step in the annual pay increments. We agree that, unlike all other employee groups in the company, major airline pilots throughout the world are part of a seniority-based career, lifestyle, promotion and pay system that is designed to retain very expensive and valuable training and experience gained by pilots during their careers at the company and prevents the company from becoming a revolving door "contractor pilot" airline. This is why, despite 10-20 years of previous experience before being hired at our company, we continue to invest in their training and qualifications for the long term and want to retain pilots until retirement to benefit from those investments and the value they bring to the company, and because it is so difficult, costly and time-consuming to replace pilots who leave and far more efficient to retain pilots with excellent pay and benefit that remain excellent.
We agree that pilots are paid much less early in their careers at the company and that we motivate and encourage them to stay with the company, rather than take their qualifications and experience to the highest bidder elsewhere, though the use of this seniority-based system that makes pilots want to invest decades of their lives at the company in order to attain the highest pay levels. This is very beneficial to the company, so we provide a table of annual pay increments and agree that increasing the value of that table from time to time, in a manner similar to pay rises given to other employee groups, is necessary in order to compensate for inflation, cost of living and to remain competitive in the market. In fact, we agree that doing so is more necessary for pilots than most employee groups, because of the value of the investment the company makes in each pilot as well as the risk the pilot takes in sticking with the company for decades while the option of changing airlines quickly becomes less and less valuable. We see this as a mutually beneficial situation that requires the proper level of company contribution.
Because we recognize that pilots are at the very front operational lines when it comes to the complex flying of our large fleet of large aircraft, and because pilots are the very final experts, professionals and authorities in the safe operation of our aircraft, we place tremendous value in pilots for upholding our #1 stated corporate priority, which is safety.
For the removal of any doubt, once again, we, the company, agree that an annual pay increment on the pilot pay scale is not a pay rise, but rather simply a step up the seniority-based pay system that is promised to pilots to reward their longevity and to increasingly encourage long careers at the company as the pilot becomes increasing more valuable as more and more investment by the company has been made in their ongoing training and experience, and as more and more risk has been taken by the pilots who choose to continue to offer their services to the company.
Furthermore, we will immediately issue a press release and a company-wide statement to clarify the misconception that we are responsible for creating in order to lower pilots' expectations of a pay rise."
Last edited by Iron Skillet; 5th Dec 2010 at 08:03.
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Those are two of the most reasoned, well balanced and factual posts I've ever read on this forum. Well said guys.
We don't want anything more than a FAIR deal to correct the slide of the last many years which has been denied and delayed by management for far too long.
We don't want anything more than a FAIR deal to correct the slide of the last many years which has been denied and delayed by management for far too long.
says it all, SP please take note.
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Point of note
SCMP makes huge amounts of advertising revenue from CX.
SP has written dribble about Cx pilots for years.
He will continue to do so.
Cx has huge sway within the press and media in this town , did you not witness the BL episode on CNBC a short while ago.....
This will continue indefinitely ......
We will need a PR specialist for sure , the question is have we, are we going to get one ....
SCMP makes huge amounts of advertising revenue from CX.
SP has written dribble about Cx pilots for years.
He will continue to do so.
Cx has huge sway within the press and media in this town , did you not witness the BL episode on CNBC a short while ago.....
This will continue indefinitely ......
We will need a PR specialist for sure , the question is have we, are we going to get one ....
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We need a PR specialist and we really need some professional industrial relations negotiators.
I know the AOA guys do a 'course' on negotiations, but sending them in against swire princes is like lambs to the slaughter. I would be quite happy to kick in another couple of hundred a month, if I knew that my interests were being negotiated by someone that the company doesn't have any leverage over.
I suspect that the company will not accept outside representation from the AOA, however I think this should be our first priority, and I think we should be open to contract compliance to achieve it.
The AOA should make it clear to the company, that we will be stuck in CC until they allow independent negotiators in talks. And the AOA should refuse all talks until this is allowed.
I know the AOA guys do a 'course' on negotiations, but sending them in against swire princes is like lambs to the slaughter. I would be quite happy to kick in another couple of hundred a month, if I knew that my interests were being negotiated by someone that the company doesn't have any leverage over.
I suspect that the company will not accept outside representation from the AOA, however I think this should be our first priority, and I think we should be open to contract compliance to achieve it.
The AOA should make it clear to the company, that we will be stuck in CC until they allow independent negotiators in talks. And the AOA should refuse all talks until this is allowed.
