Emirates Utilities Cap
 

Effective from the first of next month (5 days from now) Emirates are introducing a cap of 21,600 Dhs a year for water and electricity bills for those in company housing. If you use more than that it will be deducted from your salary. I don't live in a villa but I would imagine that 21,600 a year isn't over generous if you have any grass in your back yard or more than a couple of people living in your villa. Maybe we could use our pay rise or profit share to pay it? Oh, hang on.....

This is cleverly disguised as an “EmVironment” Programme. So it has nothing to do with cost cutting, obviously, and is entirely for our own good.

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

This is a blatant change to the contract! It is agreed that the company will provide ALL utilities in company accommodation.

Yet again, a completely ridiculous time scale (ie. 4 days notice), with absolutely no information to go by (facility to check historical bills not available yet)!

I am fortunate to live in one of the larger company villas (4500 sq ft, 5 beds etc), now I reckon I'm gonna be severely out of pocket each year as through no fault of my own, I'll be way above the 'average' consumption just in AC use alone! For gods sake, they should at least provide us with ceiling fans, and timers for the water heaters etc. (or give us time to have them installed!)

And another thing, why the hell can't they just be honest and say its a company cost saving measure.. why do they have to treat us like morons and pretend its a government initiative to protect the environment BULLCRAP!! M.F has gone on record as saying that he doesn't believe in man being responsible for global warming (along with Jeremy Clarkson I totally agree, buts thats another story)

Tossers!

Anyone in the Ranches etc who would like to give us their yearly stats/costs?? Somehow I think this 'cap' will be on the very low side!!

I dont think that 21,000 is that ungenerous if it is just for Elect and water.

But if it includes the Housing Fee that is paid to DEWA then it may not cover the full costs for many.

WHAT does this have to do with the environment?
So if you have a swimming pool you have to switch the pumps off to save electricity? and the fridge?and the AC?
For ENVIRONMENTS SAKE can these guys admit they are running short of cash supplies???

Are you charged the LOCAL rate or the EXPAT rate?

Thanks for that--so it may be fairly accurate for the DSO villas.

average costs....
 

..... for a four-bedroom villa are 1400 month annualized ie. double that in August, half that in January.

Water adds up quickly if you have a large lawn or a pool or enjoy having your driveway dust-free.

WOW! You guys have pools in your villas! Nice.:ok:

FYI,
I live in 5 bedroom Arabian Ranches with pool and small garden, total plot size 7500 sqft . I have paved a lot and have reduced the grass area, 3 adults in the house,
We are very careful with water and aircon usage everything on timers and aircon set at 24deg c,
No washing of paths, cars out of a bucket and no doors open with aircon on. I have also used door seals etc around the house.

The last 12 months have a total DEWA bill of 24462.95 ( not including Housing fee) so monthly average 2038,

Some things you will need to consider the water is charged in slabs so above 6000 gal a month price goes up from 3 fil to 3.5 and above 12000 to 4 fils a gallon you also pay for sewerage which is 0.5 fils which is calculated on the water you use (always been a mystery) ie 12000 gals of water in 12000 gals of sewerage out, our water consumption for me is around 30,000 per month so is a pretty constant charge of 1100 dhms a month,
Electricity is around 3000 units in the winter peaking to 8000 units in August so the aircon are a big cost again they run a slab system of charging 24 fils 2000/4000 28fils 4000-6000 > 6000 33 fils

Not sure if the company will charge the Housing fee which those of us on the outside pay it varies greatly but as far as I can tell is based on 5% ( though I have no official documents) of the rentable, However some pay some do not !!! Mine is 9300 per year,

Think you need to ask ED that one as if you are paying water Elect and Housing fee, then the 21600 will leave you well out of pocket.
It would seem that 25000 would be a fair figure for a medium size Villa though think they should look at where you live ie apartment or large Villa a pro rate it, and also there is different system for nationals they either pay nothing or have a reduced slab system not sure how that will effect EK National pilots that live in company accommodation.

As for the reason being purely green, if you believe that I have some really good real estate investments you may want to consider

Keep discovering

You guys are spoilt rotten:rolleyes: Come to where we work and tell us you have it better:=

Masha, I don't care what kind of crap contract you accepted!
I took a job, miles from home that contracted to supply certain conditions.
This was one of them.
How do you react when your crap job gets even crappier???

I have read the latest email regarding how we are supposed to contribute to the environmental policy (and save the company money) and I am completely aghast by this latest attempt to erode the contract I entered into with EK which states that all out utilities are provided.

It is clear that the excuse by the company to use the government’s policy on the environment is a load of tosh. Why, because they would have given us a cap based upon average Kw and literage used and NOT the Dhs21,600 stated. If we had a target of volume to achieve, then we would know where we stood and could make amends to our lifestyle to achieve that.

Why is this an issue; simplistic rampant inflationary rises in the cost of utilities will mean this is directly passed onto us… and we will all eventually pay for these utilities. Here are but a few examples to prove this; the rise in school fees has seen another hit taken by those with children with no change to the company ESA, inflationary busting RPI figures occurring for consumer products with no bonus (understandable given the profit that the bosses must share) however the incremental yearly pay increase has been declined based on all our individual performances being poor for this year, etc ,etc, etc..

If the government were serious about environmental issues, the water leaking all over the road on the way to Mirdiff for a few days last week would have been repaired immediately instead of the 5 days it actually took.

This is clearly about reducing the contractual package ie cost to EK; for if it was about the environment then the target would be the volume used and not the cost... EK management, you must stop insulting the average person’s intelligence because when the market picks up, all your brainless policies aimed at eroding our contracts might just bite you in the behind!!
:ugh:

At Midex in Al Ain, you are told to either accept the new terms or you're fired. After all, there is a stack of "2000 CV's" of people just waiting to take your position...

Can it get any worse?
 

Gentlemen, I am absolutely beside myself with this latest addition to the Emirates obvious cost cutting scheme !!! As you can all see from my post, I am new to PPrune as well as to Emirates. I left my other flying job (which was deteriorating into pure crap!) dragged self & family to what I thought was a greener pasture, with better opportunity, and a great contract, - Only to watch with utter disbelief, my contract be completely dissasembled, eroded, taken away, and lets face it blatently "broken" !!!
Since joining some months ago, we have lost our ALD, overtime, days off, rostering reg's, housing allowance, meal allowance at some destinations, and now - in a place where Im finding it damn difficult to make ends meet with my constantly declining FO salary, and constantly increasing inflation, they want to cap my water and Electricity !!!!! And at a cap that seems is so low, it would'nt cover a person living in a one bedroom flat comfortably? !!! Something has to give!!!!! I am seriously considering legal action, as I am sure I have a case - what with all the complete breaks in the Terms & Conditions of my contract !!!!

I don't know if it has been done here before, but I cannot live with this current climate (no pun intended) here at Emirates!!!!!
I did not come here to sweat my ass off in the desert for a low wage, crap conditions - in a contract that "the managment" seems able to change at a moments (oh, sorry - not even a moments notice do they give us!!!) notice, only to now be told "You will now pay for anything over 21600dhs on your utilities bills" What the hell is this place coming too?

We came to Emirates because it was considered "The premier carrier" in the Middle East, but at this rate it seems they will soon be the worst!!!!

If EK wants to save a little $dingee on Elec&Water, put out some communication on how to do it, maybe some reccomendations, practices, articles. Maybe give a little incentive for guys to cut back a little. Tell our collegues who are way, way, way over the "usual average amount" to cut back a bit, but do not just come in and implement some ridiculous "cap" for everyone. Thats just plain "cap crap" !!!

Whats next? I guess they will start charging me 10% interest on my "interest free" car loan - and make it retro-active!!!! Damn! I've given them a great idea!!! I am going to "consult" with a legal advisor, there has to be some recourse for us, because this whole thing is spiralling down and there does'nt seem to be any stop in sight.

Pissed off in my Sanddune!:ouch:

This is just another indication that a contract in the middle east does not mean anything.More changes to come.

There are 4 of us plus my helper and her husband in a 4 bedroom villa, plus maid's room/kitchen. The average cost is about Dhs 1500 during winter and Dhs 2500 during summer averaging about Dhs 25000 per year. Therefore the allowance is a little on the low side but still not too much out of pocket for me (Dhs 283 a month). We have a pretty large garden (70 sq m) and water is included in the bill too. Hope this helps. As for sanddune 1, you are a little extreme about your views as I have also lived in a 3 bedroom apartment on Sheikh Zayed Rd paying rent and DEWA on my own and the monthly bills (A/C on 24/7) were averaging about Dhs 800 so plenty in reserve. Perhaps you have outlived your expectations here and should look elsewhere where bills are a little cheaper, in another country, in another job. Good luck!

Hey Fatigueflyer... I've already started looking! Thanks for the input.
However, I simply expect people to honor their contract with me, and you!
I don't look for ways to say, "well - its not too bad, I just have to cut back here, and here, and here." And I will only be out of pocket "this much". Thats crap. You are managments dream! They can keep taking, and taking, and you will just look for ways to justify it!! Sorry, I have some sense of what's right and whats's wrong and I was not brought up to just "deal with it, & put up with it". When an employee has most of the "perks" in his contract rescinded just a few months after joining, I can just imagine what it will be like to spend a "career" here!! If no-one stood up to evil and tyranny, this world would be a much different place!!:=

Said spam is probably deleted already, so I didnt get to read it, but as I was passing one of our managers S-classes, you know the ones with the driver in Emirates uniform, I got to thinking does this affect all grades in villa accommodation, or is it just us pilots.

I would of thought that the theft of our overtime would have been a fair contribution to the given situation, but I guess enough is never enough around here.

Gents (and Ladies)

It's a more than convenient excuse (current global economic situation) for package erosion. "We, the management, valued you at so much last year, this much this year and that much next year." "What you mean you don't like?" "You have job, now work, yes?"

Erosion is just that, do you think the list of things that have been recinded will be replaced when the big wheel turns?
It's blatant knee jerking from departmental (note the "mental") heads to justify their salaries, postions and bonus'... anyone with an inside track in payroll? I'd love to see payments and salary deductions of SVP's and above. It's easier to divide $400m 200 ways than 35000.

Right, now turn your aircons off, the sweating will assist in the reduction of your BMI's and remember to catch your sweat in buckets to water your gardens. It's part of the "greener solution".-

I think there might be some postion vacant signs in the near future.

It's called Creative Shafting "how to replace vaseline with sand and get away with it"

Sandune1.
The good news is that your training bond is now null and void.

And just remember that VP's and above in the relative departments share as an incentive bonus, 5% of demonstated cost savings. With this new initiative and the overtime scam, that would add up to be quite considerable I would suspect.... Share the pain...?

Empire,
Add to that always using the shortest available runway intersection departure for the laptop.
Makes the chances of screwing up on taxi and losing your job as a consequence virtually Emirates (fool) proof.
Extra fuel/EGT - like I care!

Time to stand up.
 

Enough is enough.

It's now getting to the point where it really doesn't matter where we are geographically in the world, and how much power we don't have when it comes to standing up for ourselves and for the contracts we signed.

Emirates simply cannot function, and exist without it's pilot body. It can be as simple as every pilot calling in sick for 1 flight in an agreed month, and everyone else remaining uncontactable unless of course on reserve.

I don't know if the above example is the right answer, but the way I see it we have just 3 choices. 1. Just bend over a bit further and continue to take it, but have no right to complain. 2. Quit, just walk away and remove ourselves and our families from the harsh, continued downhill slide in the dust. or 3. Fight Back, They cannot operate the airline without us. They have taken too much from us.

I am interested to hear how many guys are going to opt for 1, 2, or 3, and welcome suggestions for us as a united group to move forward.

I think we have to seriously consider options now that is going to make Emirates sit up and take some notice, and give very serious thought to the severe contract adjustments they have inflicted in a very short space of time. This is what they have done whist the company is making very, very healthy profit.

Cheers.

I only have one source for the following information, so it might not be completely accurate.

In a meeting today at HQ, The Talking Horse was at a loss to explain the new policy in spite of the fact he signed off on the memo sent to all pilots. (seriously, if you were this guys boss, you could make him do ANYTHING! The man has no soul. Anyhow, there were some interesting discussions regarding certain aspects of this new policy.

One- Now wait for it.......... this policy only affects PILOTS in company VILLAS!

Two- Non-pilots are not aware of this policy because no one else has been notified. The entire policy discussion came as a big surprise to those present.

Three- it was mentioned that such a policy is in direct contradiction to our contracts. The response..... don't worry they won't do anything about it.

Four- Those employees above our pay grade are also not affected.

Five- Someone who actually had seen the FAQ's on the Portal, questioned who had asked those questions, since apparently no one knew about the policy beforehand. The response...... Emirates employees were surveyed and management was generous to respond to the queries.

I tell ya! Bad management in good times is barely acceptable, but in bad times, these clowns ruin people's lives and thankfully they sow the seeds of their own demise. The proverbial ****e has now hit the fan. I would like to be the first to wave bye-bye to Ed and TCAS. I wish AAR could be relegated to a different job, but that is not likely.

You got to be a nutcase to want to join EK, things will never return to normalcy here.

Mensa boy: hate to break it to you mate but I got the letter today, i live in compnay accomodation but am not tech crew.

In the Captains Lecture I attended, one brave soul asked that as we were "sharing the pain" during this recession, to help the company through a bad time, could the management confirm that the conditions would return to normal when the recession ended. The answer was no! :suspect:
Sharing the pain, bollocks. These are straight grab at conditions of employment. They obviously see us as a group of limp di*ks who'll never stand up against anything.
One person is driving this and it ain't TCAS or the talking horse!

LR 3, Great Question !
 

And let me see if I can answer that for you simply. I joined in the second half of last year, - right as Emirates was; I guess, coming out of the pilot shortage. So, the guys that I knew here told me that, yes...Emirates has its little share of problems as a carrier, but no worse than anywhere else. They were all still "reeling" from the 14 weeks bonus you all recieved,..and so things were still basically good. Good job security, good overtime after 78 hrs, good housing (till I got here!) Good chance to upgrade on a widebody - since Emirates has all these wonderful planes on order!!!! I had heard about EK doing "some" less than desireable things, -- but not the kind of blatant disregard, and complete & utter disrespectful stance, of not honoring anything that's in our contract with them.

This is ludicrous!!! What Emirates doesn't realise is that, when word of all these "breaches of contract" reaches pilots in all parts of the world who are "looking" - they will not get the quality or number of qualified pilots they need to come. Airlines have to remember that economic times are "cyclical" But people "remember"!!!

:ouch::ouch::ouch:

This is the first time to my knowledge that they've violated the 'black and white' of the contract. All the other stuff was in the Employee Handbook etc. I remember going to a pilot meeting some time back, chaired by our esteemed EVP, and he said that whilst they my amend the employee regs from time to time (this was when we stopped getting credit for vacation , sim etc), they would NEVER violate the black and white of our contract. This violation is a clear legal breech of contract. It doesn't affect me directly as I live out, but I'm just as angry as everyone else.

If we let it stand the precedent will be established. What I suggest every affected person do as a first step is: email the Horse, quoting the relevant paragraph of our contract, and ask him on what legal basis has the company decided to violate the letter of our contract. Then, if that doesn't work, I suggest legal action or possibly the Ministry of Labour be contacted. Call me naive but I really don't think we can be persecuted for defending our legal right. Even in the sandpit. But this must be done as individuals lest we be accused of trying to form the dreaded "U".

Just my two fils worth.

Lets not forget this will be the usual incremental shafting, the 'target' dhs allocation will not change, or if it does, it will do so very little. Over the years the percentage to pay will increase, as the actual DEWA charges escalate :ugh:

A piece of paper
 

A lot of you know who I am, I had done 17 years with EK, and honored my side of the contract to the best of my ability (otherwise your fired!) Now I have left they have changed the: Long Service Concessions, so that it is now virtually useless to us. A big financial kick in the backside.
Even though I have a contract with their signature and mine on it, it is no longer worth the paper it is written on.
Good luck to you all, trying to fight a change of contract from within, I don’t stand a chance!
P.S.Retirment is GREAT, regards and best wishes to all of you.

Pink Baron, care to go into detail about how they've nobbled the post retirement concession travel benefits? I'm sure there'd be a few here who'd like to know about that.

Solution to the problem is very simple......don't do anything aviation related until your published report time! That'll make them stop and think. I am always in the cockpit by my so say 'report time' - have never really figured how this is legal......

Paper
 

Hi Wiley
Our daughter (19) in Uni in Australia was hoping to go to Europe on a Uni project. As part of “my” contract she is entitled to a free J/F ticket. Now she has to “buy” a Y ticket or wait until I am 60 to travel. So she will only be eligible for one year of tickets instead of 4. (23 year old limit now) You can imagine what she calls EK! I didn’t know she knew those sorts of words! I am very sad, as this was one of the things we were looking forward to. My wife and I will probable never use our concessions, but now our kids can’t either.

Hi,

the memo is to "All UAE based staff in company provided villas". It does not affect the guys/girls in apartments.

It then makes reference to the electricity and water consumption in company provided villas.

Pretty clear to me, will be very interested to see my monthly/annual DEWA bill when it becomes available online.

The frequently asked questions part is pretty funny, as mentioned above, when and to whom where the questions directed.

I miss the whining of all those without kids, in appartments that will not be affected by this new rule. Whining that they are again on a different package than those with brats in villas!!!
(maybe the silence is because it works to their benefit this time)

I couldn't miss that one for sure, sorry ... but I am just as p!$$ed off than all the others.

Well, now it's all over with any goodwill. Any fuel saved will go into their dish-dashs, no matter how much profit they'll admit, so it's a no brainer with the actual fear orgie:
Everything to my safety benefit and nothing more than what goes directly into my pocket.

Bravo TC and AAR, you made me starting to act like a union jerk. This is to prove that you can achieve this from both ends .....

Roger Dat GMDS.
Too bad for dat but awl da knee-jerking is now starting to rock da boat.
Habout time, eh?
But don' worry. Flight dek morale is at a all time high. Hits a fackt!
Dis stuff wit dat water an' power is jus a "red 'erring" to get us to stop tawlking habout da odder stuff like MAN, MEL, etc...
Keep spending, while you still can...
Keep drinking da purple kool-aid.
Keep bend-overing.
Der's an elephant in the room...
T

This utilities cap is a breech of contract, but that has been covered by other posters.
The cap itself has been very badly thought out simply coming up with an "average" figure immediatley damns at least half of those in their ASSIGNED villas to coughing up extra.
No consideration or mention as been made of villas with say insulation, the newer ones may have it but the older ones do not, or the efficiency of the A/C units fitted by the landlord/developer.
A one price fits all simply does not work, legal issues not withstanding.
As already stated the final straw.

Question: how do you fly over 100+ shiny jets when all your drivers airframe have gone to pastures new or just said bollocks to this and taken up the "Good Life" at home?

What a cake and @rse party:ugh:

Just got my DEWA bill.

Calculated Feb 08 till Feb 09...
Water 11095.3
Elec 14875.7
Total 25971

1 young child and a new baby and no extra's in garden.
Sounds pretty average to me, but apparently not.

Well done EK you out did yourself this time :ugh:

Got our DEWA bill for last 12months. Calculated April 2008-March 2009. Family of four, no live-in maid, no added balcony/patio rooms, no pool, larger than average garden (EK issued villa, not exactly our doing!) and our bill is 26,935DH for the year. So much for the average.