The latest "Friday Liar" 3/11/17
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The latest "Friday Liar" 3/11/17
Let’s have a bit of a deeper look at the latest “Friday Liar”. It starts right off with a bit of self-congratulation with AT commenting on how the the ‘Cargo Pilots Drinks’ night was a chance to ‘recognize the contribution’ made by said pilots. I wonder if that includes the very lives of a couple of them? Of course, you only have to look at the smiling faces of the pilots and their management ‘colleagues’ in the latest fleet newsletter to realize that AT has effectively co-opted the ‘cargo pilots’ for the foreseeable future. Well done guys.
She next moves onto commenting that Slido is back online again. With only THEIR selected questions, they now censor the website, making it effectively worthless. Like the cargo drinks night, this is one venue where any thinking pilot (or one with self-worth) will refuse to participate. Slido is simply another method of manipulation, not only of the pilots, but all the staff.
Interesting comment regarding the Employee Engagement Survey. If it hasn’t yet occurred to you AT and RH, only 46% ‘engaging’ is just another way of saying most of us don’t care, are planning on leaving anyway, and you can keep pushing this airline right off the edge of the cliff.
Comments on Right Choice nominations. Let’s read between the lines on these comments. This is the one that stands out: ‘Opt for a higher outpatient and/or inpatient coverage if you had to contribute a lot to the medical costs, or reduce your coverage if you have an alternative medical plan’. They are basically inferring (and admitting) that many of you have to contribute ‘a lot’ to the medical costs for you and/or your families. They are also implying that you should have your own (out of pocket) medical coverage. It is worth noting that a career airline does not burden their employees or their families in such a way. Not only does it appear that you have the burden of living in the highest cost housing area in the world, but you now get the added burden of paying to keep you and your family healthy. Never mind all the other costs of living in HK. Yes, this is really a ‘career’ airline. Not.
Now for my favourite part of the newsletter. The weekly Slido answers. Once again, dissembling, deceit and outright manipulation.
Q1: They mention that the Chairman and Executive Directors AT THE TIME were NOT PAID any bonuses in April of 17. What they are not saying is: What about this coming year, after they have made all the planned cuts? As to not being ‘paid’, it does not comment on any DEFFERED COMPENSATION (a little trick many companies use to shield their executives. They pay out at a later date, or increase their stock compensation and/or other compensation). Of course, there is no mention of the increases in AT’s, RH’s and other directors housing, bonus and salaries that was mentioned in the latest financial filings. Nice to know that they seem to feel that they are entitled to the very things they are trying to take away from others. Hypocrisy at the most appalling level.
Q2: Time to upgrade. Let’s just blame that horrible AOA and their unreasonable training ban. Sure. Blame the symptoms of the disease instead of the disease itself (management). Let's also not blame all the operational changes (two SO crew, DEFO) that have a dramatic and deliberate effect on promotion times). Those much increased times to upgrade will cost each of you thousand upon thousands of $$. There really is NO reason to stay with CX. All AT can do is bleat on about ‘expansion’ (we are actually shrinking in market terms), shiny new jets (you’ll get over that soon enough in your careers). She mentions you have the ‘opportunity’ to ‘operate’ some of the ‘most modern’ jets in the industry. What she doesn’t say is that you will do so with the worst rostering, insufficient pay, no benefits and all the while losing your place on a proper seniority list at a proper airline (and probably getting you closer to divorce and maybe ill health). I especially love the line where she says working at CX ‘earns you credibility’. In case she is not aware, CX lost most of their credibility years ago, and certainly to such a degree now that most people of any experience and self-worth won’t even consider joining. One of the latest DEFO’s told me during a flight last week that he is already applying at airlines back home because he’s realized what a mistake he’s made in coming here. Also her comment about the ‘enormous cultural diversity’. That’s another way of saying that for your ENTIRE CAREER (if you should foolishly choose to stay), they can constantly undermine your pay and conditions by threatening to hire pilots from any third-world hellhole they choose to, on lower pay and conditions than you and your probably growing family would expect. Got to love that ‘cultural diversity’.
Then she goes on to explain that ‘despite current cost saving measures’, pay and benefits will remain ‘competitive’. Ok, so what she is really saying is, pay cuts well keep you competitive in the marketplace. Unbelievable.
Then the most hilarious line of all. She says that (paraphrasing), ‘our pilots agree that our pilots are second to none’. She’s not saying management thinks that, only that the pilots think that of themselves. Haha, couldn’t make this up if I tried. Damned with faint praise if I ever read it.
She then basically says, ‘we think living here is great, others may not’. In other words, F-*ff and accept the crap we throw at you. If you don’t like it, also F-*ff and leave. We could fix much of this with bases and commuting, but we’d rather you all be miserable and broke. Inspiring.
Q3: I won’t bother going into much detail on this. Basically they blame everything on the pilots, AOA, pilots again, lawsuits (which are in response to 25+ years of company attacks) and so on and so on. As mentioned above, they just want you to be miserable and feel hopeless. And eventually get you so miserable and hopeless that they suspect you will ‘pay’ for the privilege of going on bases or commuting (yet even more reduced pay and benefits).
So, once again another weekly dose of propaganda, manipulation, distortion of fact, veiled threats, contempt and disrespect. Why is anyone still thinking this is a place worth wasting your career, life, family happiness and health on? Get out while you can. Get out while the rest of the industry is thriving, hiring and treating their pilots with respect and reward. Have a nice week.
She next moves onto commenting that Slido is back online again. With only THEIR selected questions, they now censor the website, making it effectively worthless. Like the cargo drinks night, this is one venue where any thinking pilot (or one with self-worth) will refuse to participate. Slido is simply another method of manipulation, not only of the pilots, but all the staff.
Interesting comment regarding the Employee Engagement Survey. If it hasn’t yet occurred to you AT and RH, only 46% ‘engaging’ is just another way of saying most of us don’t care, are planning on leaving anyway, and you can keep pushing this airline right off the edge of the cliff.
Comments on Right Choice nominations. Let’s read between the lines on these comments. This is the one that stands out: ‘Opt for a higher outpatient and/or inpatient coverage if you had to contribute a lot to the medical costs, or reduce your coverage if you have an alternative medical plan’. They are basically inferring (and admitting) that many of you have to contribute ‘a lot’ to the medical costs for you and/or your families. They are also implying that you should have your own (out of pocket) medical coverage. It is worth noting that a career airline does not burden their employees or their families in such a way. Not only does it appear that you have the burden of living in the highest cost housing area in the world, but you now get the added burden of paying to keep you and your family healthy. Never mind all the other costs of living in HK. Yes, this is really a ‘career’ airline. Not.
Now for my favourite part of the newsletter. The weekly Slido answers. Once again, dissembling, deceit and outright manipulation.
Q1: They mention that the Chairman and Executive Directors AT THE TIME were NOT PAID any bonuses in April of 17. What they are not saying is: What about this coming year, after they have made all the planned cuts? As to not being ‘paid’, it does not comment on any DEFFERED COMPENSATION (a little trick many companies use to shield their executives. They pay out at a later date, or increase their stock compensation and/or other compensation). Of course, there is no mention of the increases in AT’s, RH’s and other directors housing, bonus and salaries that was mentioned in the latest financial filings. Nice to know that they seem to feel that they are entitled to the very things they are trying to take away from others. Hypocrisy at the most appalling level.
Q2: Time to upgrade. Let’s just blame that horrible AOA and their unreasonable training ban. Sure. Blame the symptoms of the disease instead of the disease itself (management). Let's also not blame all the operational changes (two SO crew, DEFO) that have a dramatic and deliberate effect on promotion times). Those much increased times to upgrade will cost each of you thousand upon thousands of $$. There really is NO reason to stay with CX. All AT can do is bleat on about ‘expansion’ (we are actually shrinking in market terms), shiny new jets (you’ll get over that soon enough in your careers). She mentions you have the ‘opportunity’ to ‘operate’ some of the ‘most modern’ jets in the industry. What she doesn’t say is that you will do so with the worst rostering, insufficient pay, no benefits and all the while losing your place on a proper seniority list at a proper airline (and probably getting you closer to divorce and maybe ill health). I especially love the line where she says working at CX ‘earns you credibility’. In case she is not aware, CX lost most of their credibility years ago, and certainly to such a degree now that most people of any experience and self-worth won’t even consider joining. One of the latest DEFO’s told me during a flight last week that he is already applying at airlines back home because he’s realized what a mistake he’s made in coming here. Also her comment about the ‘enormous cultural diversity’. That’s another way of saying that for your ENTIRE CAREER (if you should foolishly choose to stay), they can constantly undermine your pay and conditions by threatening to hire pilots from any third-world hellhole they choose to, on lower pay and conditions than you and your probably growing family would expect. Got to love that ‘cultural diversity’.
Then she goes on to explain that ‘despite current cost saving measures’, pay and benefits will remain ‘competitive’. Ok, so what she is really saying is, pay cuts well keep you competitive in the marketplace. Unbelievable.
Then the most hilarious line of all. She says that (paraphrasing), ‘our pilots agree that our pilots are second to none’. She’s not saying management thinks that, only that the pilots think that of themselves. Haha, couldn’t make this up if I tried. Damned with faint praise if I ever read it.
She then basically says, ‘we think living here is great, others may not’. In other words, F-*ff and accept the crap we throw at you. If you don’t like it, also F-*ff and leave. We could fix much of this with bases and commuting, but we’d rather you all be miserable and broke. Inspiring.
Q3: I won’t bother going into much detail on this. Basically they blame everything on the pilots, AOA, pilots again, lawsuits (which are in response to 25+ years of company attacks) and so on and so on. As mentioned above, they just want you to be miserable and feel hopeless. And eventually get you so miserable and hopeless that they suspect you will ‘pay’ for the privilege of going on bases or commuting (yet even more reduced pay and benefits).
So, once again another weekly dose of propaganda, manipulation, distortion of fact, veiled threats, contempt and disrespect. Why is anyone still thinking this is a place worth wasting your career, life, family happiness and health on? Get out while you can. Get out while the rest of the industry is thriving, hiring and treating their pilots with respect and reward. Have a nice week.
Last edited by mngmt mole; 4th Nov 2017 at 00:21.
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Excellent, Mole! How 'bout those modern jets without Internet, without iPads, with paper printouts, manuals, charts and approach plates everywhere, with CPDLC that has to be turned off 'cause it's Iridium? So modern!
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Which is why the obvious answer is that we go deep, walk away, and just continue the TB and CC.
There is no expansion, no growth, no hope of crewing the airplanes down the road, with CC and the TB in place.
Given the massive SO hiring taking place a training bubble will develop. Two second officers per long haul means one less first officer per long haul. A second officer requires less than 10 sectors to qualify....whereas approximately 40 sectors (minimum) will be required to upgrade to junior first officer. It doesn’t take a genius to observe that hiring all these SOs requires only minimal line training now (how better to weather the TB) but will require an enormous training effort when JFO upgrade occurs...three years down the road.
Three man long haul was a failure. So what are they going to do to crew the airplanes down the road...roster three second officers per long haul?
Walk away and continue the TB...
There is no expansion, no growth, no hope of crewing the airplanes down the road, with CC and the TB in place.
Given the massive SO hiring taking place a training bubble will develop. Two second officers per long haul means one less first officer per long haul. A second officer requires less than 10 sectors to qualify....whereas approximately 40 sectors (minimum) will be required to upgrade to junior first officer. It doesn’t take a genius to observe that hiring all these SOs requires only minimal line training now (how better to weather the TB) but will require an enormous training effort when JFO upgrade occurs...three years down the road.
Three man long haul was a failure. So what are they going to do to crew the airplanes down the road...roster three second officers per long haul?
Walk away and continue the TB...
Last edited by raven11; 3rd Nov 2017 at 23:01.
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Good summary Mole.
A few observations.
1. Let's not forget " the 4 pillars of TTW". Wasn't the fourth pillar engagement with the staff? I wager the DFO has an obligation to engage with her minions and things like DILDO and "drinks", enable her to show BossHogg "a tick in the box" marked "communications". Would she care if nobody engaged? Probably not, she just has to show an effort to hit her KPIs and collect her bonus.
2. Bonuses. Never forget that BossHogg, DFO and GMA are Swire employees. They have a separate income stream not shown in the Cathay accounts. You and I will never see their Swire earnings. Remember, if the HKAOA gifts $1bn in concessions, Anna & Co get $22.5m from the Swire Service agreement.
3. The continued moaning about the TB is very relevant. Put that in the context of a resignation rate heading towards 5%" coupled with the fact retirements are now happening following the increase to RA65 about 10 years ago. My radar shows some of our FOs heading over to KA for command next year. My radar doesn't show many DEFOs actually arriving (particularly if the T&Cs are reduced). Let's not forget that KA are struggling to get DEFOs of suitable quality and they offer what is arguably a better package. Also the number of DEFOs we actually received in 2017 is nothing like the numbers trumpeted at the back-end of 2016.
4. The effect of the sodimiser? The brochure promises productivity gains which will have the effecf of more pilots. If the A50 is the messiah, then the CMP is the "second coming"... Bases, dream rosters on the 747, productivity.
So to put this mathematically;
5% planned expansion + FOs to KA + 5% resignation rate - sodimiser/Training Ban = aircraft parked
A few observations.
1. Let's not forget " the 4 pillars of TTW". Wasn't the fourth pillar engagement with the staff? I wager the DFO has an obligation to engage with her minions and things like DILDO and "drinks", enable her to show BossHogg "a tick in the box" marked "communications". Would she care if nobody engaged? Probably not, she just has to show an effort to hit her KPIs and collect her bonus.
2. Bonuses. Never forget that BossHogg, DFO and GMA are Swire employees. They have a separate income stream not shown in the Cathay accounts. You and I will never see their Swire earnings. Remember, if the HKAOA gifts $1bn in concessions, Anna & Co get $22.5m from the Swire Service agreement.
3. The continued moaning about the TB is very relevant. Put that in the context of a resignation rate heading towards 5%" coupled with the fact retirements are now happening following the increase to RA65 about 10 years ago. My radar shows some of our FOs heading over to KA for command next year. My radar doesn't show many DEFOs actually arriving (particularly if the T&Cs are reduced). Let's not forget that KA are struggling to get DEFOs of suitable quality and they offer what is arguably a better package. Also the number of DEFOs we actually received in 2017 is nothing like the numbers trumpeted at the back-end of 2016.
4. The effect of the sodimiser? The brochure promises productivity gains which will have the effecf of more pilots. If the A50 is the messiah, then the CMP is the "second coming"... Bases, dream rosters on the 747, productivity.
So to put this mathematically;
5% planned expansion + FOs to KA + 5% resignation rate - sodimiser/Training Ban = aircraft parked
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The TB has been extremely effective. It was slow to take effect but 2 years on it is now a real threat to any further expansion. It is the one thing management cannot tinker with. The AOC requires a percentage of pilots to be in C&T. If that percentage isn't met the AOC could be suspended.
