Bottom line !
 

Bottom line !

When we joined as B-Scalers in April 1993, we were perhaps miffed that the then A-Scalers had not 'stood firm' to protect themselves (and us) from the very degradation of conditions (for us all !) which, surprise surprise, soon followed! Much gnashing of teeth has since occurred, over what if anything A-Scalers could have done back then, to 'stop the rot'.

To that point in time though, there were no 2nd class citizens in CX, it was just ONE UNFIED SCALE.

Fast forward 16 years 3 months to July 2009 and HEY PRESTO the HK Government RDO legislation that ushered in 'Local Terms' for anyone Employing staff and / or Working in HKG, has been the document that CX has lent upon to try and become the GREAT harbinger of future work practices and conditions for the blue collar workers that we are certainly seen / deemed to be!

It's time for all of us to realise that 'divide and conquer' is RULE #1 in most corporate play books and here we are as B-Scalers, staring down the barrel of having our Expat Housing and other (agreed upon and naturally expected to continue) conditions, effectively traded for a deal that sees guys and girls who conciously / knowingly (90% plus would have done their research and knew the history and that crew joining before July 2009 were on an historically better deal) accepted 'local terms', yet now naturally want what we B-Scalers have contractually accepted as the basis of our contract.

Could we have resisted the insidious shift at that point in 2009 ? Not likely is the retrospective answer. Sorry to say IMHO / FWIW.

If we can't now ALL effectively hold onto what we have, then the C-Scalers who joined of their own volition post July 2009 must surely realise that collectively we are simply 'greasing the slippery slide' that CX wants us to COLLECTIVELY slide down whilst bickering with our jealousy-infected 'blue collar' Brian's !!

We are not! We must not! And we certainly are capable of being smarter this time, ........... If only for the benefit of generation D and E.

Let's hold the line and force the trend line upwards, not downwards.

:D:D:D Well written and to the point. It's time to ALL work together to change the trend back to improving ALL scales, and NOT allowing CX to pit one group of pilots against another. Know that that is CX managements main strategy.

Runnymead. You stated that the A scalers should have done something . Just what did you expect them to do ? go on strike for people that hadn't even joined yet .?
There were many posts on the wanabee section warning of the danger of taking reduced conditions. Sadly the lure of the big shiny jet was just too much and you all joined regardless of the dire warnings .

Now the same thing is happening to you with C scales , new joiners are falling over themselves to sign up thereby eroding your conditions even further. So let me ask you, are you prepared to do something about it .

If You want conditions to improve you have to stop the recruitment . Until no one decides to join nothing will change

With respect to you Blowback and to my A-Scale breathren, I have clearly NOT STATED what you suggest ......... "That A-Scalers should have done something"........ Like perhaps STRIKE. I merely point out what you then infer, being that it was very difficult for them, back then when we were one happy homogenous family, to do something as drastic as STRIKE, to protect us that were yes, naivly joining at the lure of flying a shiny CX airplane.

That said, it's been acknowledged by both groups in the years since, that a collective stand would have helped both A-Scalers and B alike. That's easy to see clearly through the 20:20 retrospectoscope though!

Since then we've learned a lot whilst the homogenous group of super motivated Sid's Pirates has been replaced by a much larger group of now displaced, dispossessed, demotivated and hugely disappointed professionals that hanker for the good old days, when now faced with decisions made by 'Silo-Managing' Bean Counters.

Flying the shiny new jet equipment at CX will always attract ambitious flight crew and so it should ! So too as well should we welcome them and all be proud of this great company we work for and form an intrinsic part of! There is a lot to be happy about when ones view of the World is the panoramic cockpit of a well maintained 777 with a decent coffee in ones hand !

All I wish to point out is that we've come a long way through successive reductions in conditions and RPs and learned a lot in the process. With well over 2000 AOA members and good leadership at the helm, we should be able now to intelligently realise that we need to hold the line, stay smart, never be reduced to bickering opportunists that can't smell the coffee and realise that cool heads with a plan can succeed.

We are here at that point now, where we need to stay smart and support those who have B-Scale conditions, for it is us B- Scalers that want to help the rest of you, for in doing so we help ourselves. Catch 22.

Together we stand, divided we fall.

runnymede,
I hope you are one of the new or existing GC members! Can't fault what you say!

Runnymede,
I can't fault what you say but you did say and I quote
"we were perhaps miffed that the then A scalers had not stood firm . And much gnashing of teeth that has since occurred over what the A scalers could have done to stop the rot
So how am I to interpret those statements?
I totally agree with your overall argument but I say again it wasn't the A scalers fault that B scales were introduced just as C scales are now coming ,and as long as there are recruits willing to accept them we are Hard pressed to stop the onslaught