SQ pilots under political pressure (merged)
Very strong rumour on the Silk Air package - but as some one mentioned there is still no expat contract so if one has children and you want an international schooling, then it's not worth it - at all. So "rumour' has it that the expats will still be on their bikes. For the locals it's all good news, and one must wonder if this will filter up to the gestapo in SQ
How the government has let the international schools charge such exhorbitant fees is beyond me - and even the SQ subsidised school allowance barely cuts the ice. If this dissapears from the new agreement or is readjusted similar to the freighter contract I suspect alot more pilots will be doing the walk.
How the government has let the international schools charge such exhorbitant fees is beyond me - and even the SQ subsidised school allowance barely cuts the ice. If this dissapears from the new agreement or is readjusted similar to the freighter contract I suspect alot more pilots will be doing the walk.
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Just an update for all those loyal SQ watchers out there. Here is another gem from the Senile Minister.
Original Source 05/01/04 - Today Newspaper
My bold text
Waffle snipped ........
Quote:
To prevent that scenario from happening, Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport have to cut costs by 10 to 15%.
Wages form only 20% of SIA's costs so other costs also have to come down to make the airline more competitive.
Jobs will have to be redesigned.
Singapore Airlines he said, has become "tubby" like Qantas and British Airways were in the past.
Because these airlines have restructured and are leaner, Singapore Airlines too has to become leaner. One way was for pilots to do split shifts – which meant that they would report for duty only when there was work.
This way, "we save on the number of pilots as the airline expands. They are many things which can be done which will trim costs. I mean you can bring costs down by 10, 15%, you will become competitive."
He cited the case of high-flying Emirates, the national carrier of Dubai, which charged 10 per cent lower than what SIA charged. Dubai used its oil wealth to subsidise the lower airline charges, he said, because it wanted to build up its hub status.
Budget airlines will eat into SIA's business but whatever happens, the airline and Singapore must keep adjusting and changing.
Mr Lee said there was no need to be apprehensive of the coming changes — but Singaporeans would need to be on their toes.
"If we don't have that discipline or the resolve or the wit to think of new strategies, new ways to overcome the competition, then we deserve to be sidelined."
In part 2 of the interview which will be on Channel NewsAsia tomorrow at 10pm, SM Lee will explain why the government came down so hard on the SIA Pilot's Union - Alpa-S - and what SIA's management needs to do to shape up.
More to come I am sure .... DG
Original Source 05/01/04 - Today Newspaper
My bold text
Waffle snipped ........
Quote:
To prevent that scenario from happening, Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport have to cut costs by 10 to 15%.
Wages form only 20% of SIA's costs so other costs also have to come down to make the airline more competitive.
Jobs will have to be redesigned.
Singapore Airlines he said, has become "tubby" like Qantas and British Airways were in the past.
Because these airlines have restructured and are leaner, Singapore Airlines too has to become leaner. One way was for pilots to do split shifts – which meant that they would report for duty only when there was work.
This way, "we save on the number of pilots as the airline expands. They are many things which can be done which will trim costs. I mean you can bring costs down by 10, 15%, you will become competitive."
He cited the case of high-flying Emirates, the national carrier of Dubai, which charged 10 per cent lower than what SIA charged. Dubai used its oil wealth to subsidise the lower airline charges, he said, because it wanted to build up its hub status.
Budget airlines will eat into SIA's business but whatever happens, the airline and Singapore must keep adjusting and changing.
Mr Lee said there was no need to be apprehensive of the coming changes — but Singaporeans would need to be on their toes.
"If we don't have that discipline or the resolve or the wit to think of new strategies, new ways to overcome the competition, then we deserve to be sidelined."
In part 2 of the interview which will be on Channel NewsAsia tomorrow at 10pm, SM Lee will explain why the government came down so hard on the SIA Pilot's Union - Alpa-S - and what SIA's management needs to do to shape up.
More to come I am sure .... DG
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Just as Singapore Airlines overreacted, immediately post SARS, by quickly slashing salaries, retrenching and forcing unpaid leave on all employees, including pilots, amidst a cloud of waffle and obfuscation, refusing to reveal the financial calculations on which the Company had based its peremptory and draconian actions (none as it subsequently turned out), so we now see the Senior Minister adopting this well worn modus operandi to justify his own precipitate, intemperate and concerted attack on the pilots of Alpa-S who have recently had the temerity to exercise their democratic and statutory right to elect a new president and exco to the association.
Surely the SM is floundering a little by saying:
“Singapore Airlines has become "tubby" like Qantas and British Airways were in the past.
Because these airlines have restructured and are leaner, Singapore Airlines too has to become leaner. One way was for pilots to do split shifts – which meant that they would report for duty only when there was work.
This way, we save on the number of pilots as the airline expands. They are (sic) many things which can be done which will trim costs. I mean you can bring costs down by 10, 15%, you will become competitive."
Since when did pilots ever report for duty other than when there was work? What exactly are “split shifts” in this context? What precisely is “I mean you can bring costs down by 10, 15%, you will become competitive” meant to convey?
Does anyone else detect back-tracking self justification combined with waffle and obfuscation to cover the original ignorant, unjust and ill-judged attack on the pilots?
Surely the SM is floundering a little by saying:
“Singapore Airlines has become "tubby" like Qantas and British Airways were in the past.
Because these airlines have restructured and are leaner, Singapore Airlines too has to become leaner. One way was for pilots to do split shifts – which meant that they would report for duty only when there was work.
This way, we save on the number of pilots as the airline expands. They are (sic) many things which can be done which will trim costs. I mean you can bring costs down by 10, 15%, you will become competitive."
Since when did pilots ever report for duty other than when there was work? What exactly are “split shifts” in this context? What precisely is “I mean you can bring costs down by 10, 15%, you will become competitive” meant to convey?
Does anyone else detect back-tracking self justification combined with waffle and obfuscation to cover the original ignorant, unjust and ill-judged attack on the pilots?
Last edited by highcirrus; 5th Jan 2004 at 14:11.
So SIA is "tubby"??? Maybe to many directors, non executive directors, board members, etc etc. But will they get trimmed - don't think so lah.
In view of the SMs new theory on pilots and work, maybe the new format for doing a trip will be that we all report for work at some time of the day - so for the first 20 flights or so there could be 60 or 70 crew and these crew will be in a holding pen that the passengers can see into - based on what the pax see they could then "vote" who they want to do the flight - and if you are lucky (or not) you get to do the business and whats more you will get paid. If you do not get chosen, you can have a meal with the Changi Airport construction crew and go home - no work no pay - best get a facelift and have a makeover if you don't get to work for a week. Seen the same sort of procedure in Bangkok somewhere.
Surely the general Singaporean public are not that naive to believe the propaganda of these ministers. Or are they?
In view of the SMs new theory on pilots and work, maybe the new format for doing a trip will be that we all report for work at some time of the day - so for the first 20 flights or so there could be 60 or 70 crew and these crew will be in a holding pen that the passengers can see into - based on what the pax see they could then "vote" who they want to do the flight - and if you are lucky (or not) you get to do the business and whats more you will get paid. If you do not get chosen, you can have a meal with the Changi Airport construction crew and go home - no work no pay - best get a facelift and have a makeover if you don't get to work for a week. Seen the same sort of procedure in Bangkok somewhere.
Surely the general Singaporean public are not that naive to believe the propaganda of these ministers. Or are they?
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CDRW,
Quote:>>>How the government has let the international schools charge such exhorbitant fees is beyond me - and even the SQ subsidised school allowance barely cuts the ice.<<<
Do you know that, ISS International School in Singapore is owned by Chan Chee Seng, a former PAP MP? ( an ex-Member of Parliament from Lee Kuan Yew's People's Action Party).
Hence, no need to say more!
Quote:>>>How the government has let the international schools charge such exhorbitant fees is beyond me - and even the SQ subsidised school allowance barely cuts the ice.<<<
Do you know that, ISS International School in Singapore is owned by Chan Chee Seng, a former PAP MP? ( an ex-Member of Parliament from Lee Kuan Yew's People's Action Party).
Hence, no need to say more!
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Straits Times, 6 Jan 2004
SENIOR MINISTER'S INTERVIEW ON SIA AND CHANGI
SM to pilots: Quit at own risk
Reason: Even if hired elsewhere, you'd be first ones let go in a crisis
By Rebecca Lee
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sin...28579,00.html?
SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) pilots who decide to walk can go ahead and do so, but Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew warned yesterday they will end up 'marginal workers' in foreign airlines - the first to be let go in any crisis.
In an interview with The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao, he said the Government was prepared to see all the unhappy pilots who voted to oust their union's leadership leave the airline, if it came to that.
He also revealed that key players in the 1980 dispute between the pilots and SIA management - when he stepped in himself as Prime Minister then - were believed to be behind the current problems.
He was therefore involved again, and intended to 'finish the job'.
However, he said he hopes the new leadership of the Air Line Pilots Association-Singapore (Alpa-S) is having second thoughts about taking a tougher stance in negotiations with the airline.
Asked why the pilots union has had a more turbulent relationship with management than the other four SIA unions, he said: 'The answer is pilots in all airlines have greater leverage, more pressure.'
It costs between $500,000 and $700,000 to train a pilot, who is then contracted to serve for six to seven years, before he can quit to work for another airline.
It is therefore easier and cheaper for an airline to poach a pilot from a rival than to train one from scratch, and that makes pilots more mobile and gives them a bargaining edge, Mr Lee said.
'So they say, 'Well, I will leave.' Is it so easy? Maybe.
'They can join Emirate Airlines. They can join Dragonair. They can join China Airlines. But there you are the marginal worker. Any downturn, you're the first to go. Right?'
Mr Lee was drawn into the Alpa-S saga after pilots threw out its leadership by a 55 to 45 per cent majority at an extraordinary general meeting in November last year.
The ousted council had negotiated last year's wage-cut arrangements with management after the airline was hit badly by the sharp drop in air travel following the Sars crisis.
The wage cuts - which affected non-pilots and SIA management too - were approved by Alpa-S members in July last year.
Mr Lee said that by getting rid of the council, 'obviously their intention was to show displeasure against the old committee for having compromised with the company'.
SIA has about 1,700 pilots. Mr Lee said the Government is prepared to have all 55 per cent of the unhappy pilots leave the airline.
'Forty-five per cent decided not to sack the old committee, so we have 45 per cent who will stay,' he said.
'Of the 55 per cent who will leave, I think we are prepared to see half go... or even if worse comes to the worst, all go. Can they find jobs somehow? Six hundred pilots suddenly looking for jobs?
'So let's be realistic. Let's sit down, this is not a game of bluff.
'This is a very serious game of brinkmanship we are playing. We are prepared as a government to go to the brink,' he said.
Harking back to the last time he stepped in to resolve disputes between Alpa-S' predecessor and SIA management, he said: 'I went to the brink the last time in 1980.
'I'm still here, I'll go to the brink again and clean up this problem.'
Mr Lee also revealed that the Government had information that the same players involved in the 1980 episode also had a hand in the latest saga.
'The same captains who were adversaries in 1980 are behind this new group, I think, but it makes no difference. This is a job that has to be finished and I'll finish it,' he said.
Asked about the conciliatory tone the new Alpa-S council appeared to be adopting, he said: 'I assume they've taken note of what we've said and I'm glad to hear they want to heal rifts.'
Newly elected Alpa-S president, Captain Mok Hin Choon, has said his immediate task is to mend the rift between the pilots and management.
Mr Lee said: 'But what was the point of sacking the old committee that arranged for the accommodation with SIA to overcome the Sars problem and then sack them off, having approved of what they did?
'Obviously, they had other intentions, so I'm glad they're having second thoughts. I suggest they should have more second thoughts.'
Stressing he was not making a threat, but stating the Government's position, as the biggest shareholder of SIA, he said: 'Let's settle this now instead of having this problem recurring every few years. We're going to settle this.'
TOMORROW: Part Two of the interview with Senior Minister
- Could the Senior Minister please explain to everyone exactly how Singapore Airlines will be able to continue operations following departure of 55% of the pilot force from the airline?
How will the subsequent catastrophic effects on the nation’s air transport infrastructure, the Singapore economy, the political standing of Singapore and the personal reputation of the Senior Minister be explained away to the world?
Will blame for this catastrophe fall on the naughty pilots (as usual), despite Alpa-S President Mok’s wise policy of healing the rift between pilots and company, or will it be placed elsewhere (ie not government)?
Does the Senior Minister intend to invoke powers vested by the Internal Security Act and detain a few (or many) recalcitrants who do not bend to his will? What will be the corollary effect on Singapore’s stance in the “war on terror”, as a “democracy” standing shoulder-to-shoulder with “other democracies”?
Why are the Senior Ministers "facts" either selective or incorrect in the above interview and why does he speak as if all pilots were un-bonded and free to leave tomorrow?
Is the Senior Minister not beginning to sound like a spoiled, pampered and untruthful brattish infant who has to be coddled and placated at every turn, lest he throws a tantrum and creates an embarrassing scene by wrecking the train set so no one else can play with it?
I think we should all be told.
SENIOR MINISTER'S INTERVIEW ON SIA AND CHANGI
SM to pilots: Quit at own risk
Reason: Even if hired elsewhere, you'd be first ones let go in a crisis
By Rebecca Lee
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sin...28579,00.html?
SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) pilots who decide to walk can go ahead and do so, but Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew warned yesterday they will end up 'marginal workers' in foreign airlines - the first to be let go in any crisis.
In an interview with The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao, he said the Government was prepared to see all the unhappy pilots who voted to oust their union's leadership leave the airline, if it came to that.
He also revealed that key players in the 1980 dispute between the pilots and SIA management - when he stepped in himself as Prime Minister then - were believed to be behind the current problems.
He was therefore involved again, and intended to 'finish the job'.
However, he said he hopes the new leadership of the Air Line Pilots Association-Singapore (Alpa-S) is having second thoughts about taking a tougher stance in negotiations with the airline.
Asked why the pilots union has had a more turbulent relationship with management than the other four SIA unions, he said: 'The answer is pilots in all airlines have greater leverage, more pressure.'
It costs between $500,000 and $700,000 to train a pilot, who is then contracted to serve for six to seven years, before he can quit to work for another airline.
It is therefore easier and cheaper for an airline to poach a pilot from a rival than to train one from scratch, and that makes pilots more mobile and gives them a bargaining edge, Mr Lee said.
'So they say, 'Well, I will leave.' Is it so easy? Maybe.
'They can join Emirate Airlines. They can join Dragonair. They can join China Airlines. But there you are the marginal worker. Any downturn, you're the first to go. Right?'
Mr Lee was drawn into the Alpa-S saga after pilots threw out its leadership by a 55 to 45 per cent majority at an extraordinary general meeting in November last year.
The ousted council had negotiated last year's wage-cut arrangements with management after the airline was hit badly by the sharp drop in air travel following the Sars crisis.
The wage cuts - which affected non-pilots and SIA management too - were approved by Alpa-S members in July last year.
Mr Lee said that by getting rid of the council, 'obviously their intention was to show displeasure against the old committee for having compromised with the company'.
SIA has about 1,700 pilots. Mr Lee said the Government is prepared to have all 55 per cent of the unhappy pilots leave the airline.
'Forty-five per cent decided not to sack the old committee, so we have 45 per cent who will stay,' he said.
'Of the 55 per cent who will leave, I think we are prepared to see half go... or even if worse comes to the worst, all go. Can they find jobs somehow? Six hundred pilots suddenly looking for jobs?
'So let's be realistic. Let's sit down, this is not a game of bluff.
'This is a very serious game of brinkmanship we are playing. We are prepared as a government to go to the brink,' he said.
Harking back to the last time he stepped in to resolve disputes between Alpa-S' predecessor and SIA management, he said: 'I went to the brink the last time in 1980.
'I'm still here, I'll go to the brink again and clean up this problem.'
Mr Lee also revealed that the Government had information that the same players involved in the 1980 episode also had a hand in the latest saga.
'The same captains who were adversaries in 1980 are behind this new group, I think, but it makes no difference. This is a job that has to be finished and I'll finish it,' he said.
Asked about the conciliatory tone the new Alpa-S council appeared to be adopting, he said: 'I assume they've taken note of what we've said and I'm glad to hear they want to heal rifts.'
Newly elected Alpa-S president, Captain Mok Hin Choon, has said his immediate task is to mend the rift between the pilots and management.
Mr Lee said: 'But what was the point of sacking the old committee that arranged for the accommodation with SIA to overcome the Sars problem and then sack them off, having approved of what they did?
'Obviously, they had other intentions, so I'm glad they're having second thoughts. I suggest they should have more second thoughts.'
Stressing he was not making a threat, but stating the Government's position, as the biggest shareholder of SIA, he said: 'Let's settle this now instead of having this problem recurring every few years. We're going to settle this.'
TOMORROW: Part Two of the interview with Senior Minister
- Could the Senior Minister please explain to everyone exactly how Singapore Airlines will be able to continue operations following departure of 55% of the pilot force from the airline?
How will the subsequent catastrophic effects on the nation’s air transport infrastructure, the Singapore economy, the political standing of Singapore and the personal reputation of the Senior Minister be explained away to the world?
Will blame for this catastrophe fall on the naughty pilots (as usual), despite Alpa-S President Mok’s wise policy of healing the rift between pilots and company, or will it be placed elsewhere (ie not government)?
Does the Senior Minister intend to invoke powers vested by the Internal Security Act and detain a few (or many) recalcitrants who do not bend to his will? What will be the corollary effect on Singapore’s stance in the “war on terror”, as a “democracy” standing shoulder-to-shoulder with “other democracies”?
Why are the Senior Ministers "facts" either selective or incorrect in the above interview and why does he speak as if all pilots were un-bonded and free to leave tomorrow?
Is the Senior Minister not beginning to sound like a spoiled, pampered and untruthful brattish infant who has to be coddled and placated at every turn, lest he throws a tantrum and creates an embarrassing scene by wrecking the train set so no one else can play with it?
I think we should all be told.
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highcirrus
I agree totally – maybe the interviewer(s) should have asked these questions, rather than give LKY a further platform for an easy bash at the pilots. I’d be interested to see the same subject matter come up in an interview similar to the recent BBC Hard Talk interview with Tim Sebastian when the SM showed himself to be as churlish, brittle and petulant as ever, when called to account (this time over Singapore’s own “royal” succession).
I’m sure Sebastian would have a field day pressing him to explain why his following words do not clearly indicate that it is he who is playing the game of bluff and brinksmanship, rather than the pilots, by threatening (again) the effective closure of the airline and it is he who is implying that he will use the draconian apparatus of his totalitarian State by again threatening internment under the Internal Security Act (bequeathed by the Brits, so it’s their fault as well as the pilots’) for the “'the same captains who were adversaries in 1980 (and who) are behind this new group”. Captain Mok, meanwhile, is mildly attempting reconciliation with SIA, in the hope of attaining a rational negotiating environment.
Sebastian would certainly be able to wring out of him the additional twin admissions that SM himself started this current “crisis” and that if the large number of pilots he mentions (the experienced captains, rather than the young cadets he talks about when he says "It costs between $500,000 and $700,000 to train a pilot"), were released from their bonds and did indeed leave SIA, he himself would start to look foolishly like the “emperor with no cloths”, or, perhaps, Nero, fiddling while the Rome he set fire to, burns to destruction. Whichever one, the unmistakable impression of an obsessive old man, from a long past era, would indelibly print itself on all our minds.
Quote of LKY’s words - 'Of the 55 per cent who will leave, I think we are prepared to see half go... or even if worse comes to the worst, all go. Can they find jobs somehow? Six hundred pilots suddenly looking for jobs?
'So let's be realistic. Let's sit down, this is not a game of bluff.
'This is a very serious game of brinkmanship we are playing. We are prepared as a government to go to the brink,' he said.
Harking back to the last time he stepped in to resolve disputes between Alpa-S' predecessor and SIA management, he said: 'I went to the brink the last time in 1980.
'I'm still here, I'll go to the brink again and clean up this problem.' – Unquote.
I agree totally – maybe the interviewer(s) should have asked these questions, rather than give LKY a further platform for an easy bash at the pilots. I’d be interested to see the same subject matter come up in an interview similar to the recent BBC Hard Talk interview with Tim Sebastian when the SM showed himself to be as churlish, brittle and petulant as ever, when called to account (this time over Singapore’s own “royal” succession).
I’m sure Sebastian would have a field day pressing him to explain why his following words do not clearly indicate that it is he who is playing the game of bluff and brinksmanship, rather than the pilots, by threatening (again) the effective closure of the airline and it is he who is implying that he will use the draconian apparatus of his totalitarian State by again threatening internment under the Internal Security Act (bequeathed by the Brits, so it’s their fault as well as the pilots’) for the “'the same captains who were adversaries in 1980 (and who) are behind this new group”. Captain Mok, meanwhile, is mildly attempting reconciliation with SIA, in the hope of attaining a rational negotiating environment.
Sebastian would certainly be able to wring out of him the additional twin admissions that SM himself started this current “crisis” and that if the large number of pilots he mentions (the experienced captains, rather than the young cadets he talks about when he says "It costs between $500,000 and $700,000 to train a pilot"), were released from their bonds and did indeed leave SIA, he himself would start to look foolishly like the “emperor with no cloths”, or, perhaps, Nero, fiddling while the Rome he set fire to, burns to destruction. Whichever one, the unmistakable impression of an obsessive old man, from a long past era, would indelibly print itself on all our minds.
Quote of LKY’s words - 'Of the 55 per cent who will leave, I think we are prepared to see half go... or even if worse comes to the worst, all go. Can they find jobs somehow? Six hundred pilots suddenly looking for jobs?
'So let's be realistic. Let's sit down, this is not a game of bluff.
'This is a very serious game of brinkmanship we are playing. We are prepared as a government to go to the brink,' he said.
Harking back to the last time he stepped in to resolve disputes between Alpa-S' predecessor and SIA management, he said: 'I went to the brink the last time in 1980.
'I'm still here, I'll go to the brink again and clean up this problem.' – Unquote.
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Is it not possible, in the interests of balance, for a representative of Alpa-S to be similarly interviewed by the august Miss Rebecca Lee (no relation – we hope!) of the Straits Times, to give the SIA pilots’ point of view? Please, someone tell me that this would be a viable proposition, without running the risk of a defamation suit, issued by SM, leading to the personal ruin that seems to be so distressingly common in Singapore.
If there is any suggestion of defamation from such a representative, then I’m sure that the Senior Minister will be magnanimous enough to let it by as a quid pro quo for his similar, highly publicised defamation to the effect that the pilots “thought themselves special and had big egos”.
If there is any suggestion of defamation from such a representative, then I’m sure that the Senior Minister will be magnanimous enough to let it by as a quid pro quo for his similar, highly publicised defamation to the effect that the pilots “thought themselves special and had big egos”.
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Hi all,
The following two writeups came from the Jan 6 Straitstimes. Does seem that the SM is also setting the tone and direction for better human resource management in SIA.
Cheers folks
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
SIA can't carry on like before: SM
By Zuraidah Ibrahim
FURTHER job losses at Singapore Airlines will be inevitable as the airline cuts costs to become trim, and fight and win in a more difficult environment, said Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew yesterday.
In an interview with The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao, he said the carrier had to look at its various cost components and remove redundancies.
While it needs to reduce costs by 10 to 15 per cent, some costs cannot be compromised, such as those for fuel - which make up about a fifth of the total bill - and maintenance, as well as others such as for the food it serves.
While wages make up 15 to 20 per cent of the total cost, it did not mean SIA's cost-cutting efforts should focus only on wages.
'I've had to study this problem because I've decided that it needs to be looked into,' Mr Lee said.
Wages were an item which could be tackled, but that was not the only area which SIA's management needed to look at in order to save costs and manpower, he said.
For example, some job specifications could be changed so that workers could multi-task more, and the rostering of pilots and cabin crew could be improved to ensure a more even spread of work.
The airline would also have to outsource some of its work, to India or elsewhere.
'The luxury of just carrying on as before is something we cannot afford,' he said.
Mr Lee, who gave the interview to discuss SIA's challenges amid its troubles with its pilots' union, said the key question before the airline and Changi Airport was whether they could continue to compete in a changed environment.
Both now have to deal with the emergence of low-cost carriers in the region, the risk of long-range aircraft bypassing Singapore and the threat of new air hubs.
These trends have already changed the face of aviation in Europe and the United States.
'I'm not saying it's going to happen in six months' time but I think...two to three years,' he said.
Governments which used to protect their national airlines through restrictive air services agreements, are learning that they can gain more by not doing so, and are instead improving their tourist and airport sectors by increasing passenger traffic through their countries.
Malaysia Airlines is already having to deal with this changed outlook, and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is doing the same with Thai Airways.
'Do we stand still? Is it good for SIA? Of course it's not, but which is worse - to see a business eaten up or to see it eaten up by part of a company that you share in?' he said, referring to SIA's recent move to set up budget carrier Tiger Airways.
He added that the pressure on costs was affecting not only SIA and Changi Airport but also companies across the board in the economy.
So while ordinary Singaporeans might think the Government over-reacted by using tough words on the pilots, he said it was the Government's job to worry about the future if SIA and Changi Airport were not focused on meeting the challenges.
What is at stake: 220,000 jobs in the industry and other related sectors or 9.2 per cent of the gross domestic product.
At least a quarter or a third of those jobs could be wiped out if SIA and Changi did not stay on top, he said.
Mr Lee and other ministers had earlier warned the pilots that the Government would not allow them to hold the airline to ransom by taking a confrontational stance.
Clearly, it viewed the ouster of their union council as an aggressive move, particularly with a new collective agreement up for negotiation.
A new council has since been elected and has said it wants to heal the rifts.
Mr Lee said yesterday: 'I am glad they are having second thoughts and I suggest they should have more second thoughts.'
On how SIA management could improve ties with the pilots, he said that new chief executive officer Chew Choon Seng had the opportunity now to 'close the ledger and start afresh'.
Trust, he said, had to be the key ingredient in the relationship.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
On SIA management: Start afresh and earn staff's trust
By Zuraidah Ibrahim
WITH a new chief executive officer at the helm, it is time for Singapore Airlines (SIA) to close the book on its troubled relations with its pilots and start afresh, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew said yesterday.
'Look, I'm not here to defend the human relations side of SIA. I think if it was well done, we wouldn't have had this problem,' he said in an interview with reporters from Singapore Press Holdings. He was asked to comment on what the Government felt SIA management can do to ensure smoother relations with its staff.
In an earlier statement after the pilots union ousted its leadership last November, the Government urged SIA management to improve its human resource practices.
It also announced its intention to tighten the law to stop the pilots union leadership having to go back to members for their final say on any negotiations with management.
Yesterday, Mr Lee noted that laws cannot make for good relations between employers and employees as they only curb excesses.
'For positive relations, you need trust. The employee must know the employer has his interest at heart. He's not just out to squeeze him and show profits and be done with it and he gets big bonuses. In other words, there must be confidence.'
He noted that confidence can be built over time if management shares information with workers on the challenges ahead. As it is, with listed companies having to file their returns quarterly, information is already made public in a more timely fashion.
So there is no harm in management keeping the unions posted, he said. 'But they should also try and get the union on board on what they want to do, what their hopes are.'
Moving on to make a point about trust between employers, workers and the Government, he said if the Government and employers had not been on the level with unions, there would not be such 'equable, sensible relations' with them, including private sector unions.
The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) had been able to deliver. 'Now, if NTUC lets down its members because it wants to please the Government, NTUC will soon lose credibility.
'Why is NTUC able to maintain its credibility and increase its membership? Because, at the end of the day, the workers and the members can see that results justify making these accommodations, that they have not been shortchanged.'
The same approach can be taken with SIA pilots, but union leaders need to be people who can be trusted and be told the facts without those facts being leaked to competitors.
'So really it's a question of building up confidence,' he said. Referring to changes in SIA top management, he added: 'However difficult it is, this is a chance to make a fresh start after Cheong Choong Kong and after Joe Pillay.
'Well, there's Chew Choon Seng. Let's start afresh... I've already spoken to him that this is a chance to close the ledger and start afresh.'
Mr Chew succeeded Dr Cheong as CEO last June.
Mr Lee did not think the task of improving human relations lies with the HR department alone.
'Human relations means across the board, every section, every head, every vice-president has a job to keep his people informed and to carry his people with it. That's the way we have worked in the Government. That's the way NTUC has worked.'
The following two writeups came from the Jan 6 Straitstimes. Does seem that the SM is also setting the tone and direction for better human resource management in SIA.
Cheers folks
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
SIA can't carry on like before: SM
By Zuraidah Ibrahim
FURTHER job losses at Singapore Airlines will be inevitable as the airline cuts costs to become trim, and fight and win in a more difficult environment, said Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew yesterday.
In an interview with The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao, he said the carrier had to look at its various cost components and remove redundancies.
While it needs to reduce costs by 10 to 15 per cent, some costs cannot be compromised, such as those for fuel - which make up about a fifth of the total bill - and maintenance, as well as others such as for the food it serves.
While wages make up 15 to 20 per cent of the total cost, it did not mean SIA's cost-cutting efforts should focus only on wages.
'I've had to study this problem because I've decided that it needs to be looked into,' Mr Lee said.
Wages were an item which could be tackled, but that was not the only area which SIA's management needed to look at in order to save costs and manpower, he said.
For example, some job specifications could be changed so that workers could multi-task more, and the rostering of pilots and cabin crew could be improved to ensure a more even spread of work.
The airline would also have to outsource some of its work, to India or elsewhere.
'The luxury of just carrying on as before is something we cannot afford,' he said.
Mr Lee, who gave the interview to discuss SIA's challenges amid its troubles with its pilots' union, said the key question before the airline and Changi Airport was whether they could continue to compete in a changed environment.
Both now have to deal with the emergence of low-cost carriers in the region, the risk of long-range aircraft bypassing Singapore and the threat of new air hubs.
These trends have already changed the face of aviation in Europe and the United States.
'I'm not saying it's going to happen in six months' time but I think...two to three years,' he said.
Governments which used to protect their national airlines through restrictive air services agreements, are learning that they can gain more by not doing so, and are instead improving their tourist and airport sectors by increasing passenger traffic through their countries.
Malaysia Airlines is already having to deal with this changed outlook, and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is doing the same with Thai Airways.
'Do we stand still? Is it good for SIA? Of course it's not, but which is worse - to see a business eaten up or to see it eaten up by part of a company that you share in?' he said, referring to SIA's recent move to set up budget carrier Tiger Airways.
He added that the pressure on costs was affecting not only SIA and Changi Airport but also companies across the board in the economy.
So while ordinary Singaporeans might think the Government over-reacted by using tough words on the pilots, he said it was the Government's job to worry about the future if SIA and Changi Airport were not focused on meeting the challenges.
What is at stake: 220,000 jobs in the industry and other related sectors or 9.2 per cent of the gross domestic product.
At least a quarter or a third of those jobs could be wiped out if SIA and Changi did not stay on top, he said.
Mr Lee and other ministers had earlier warned the pilots that the Government would not allow them to hold the airline to ransom by taking a confrontational stance.
Clearly, it viewed the ouster of their union council as an aggressive move, particularly with a new collective agreement up for negotiation.
A new council has since been elected and has said it wants to heal the rifts.
Mr Lee said yesterday: 'I am glad they are having second thoughts and I suggest they should have more second thoughts.'
On how SIA management could improve ties with the pilots, he said that new chief executive officer Chew Choon Seng had the opportunity now to 'close the ledger and start afresh'.
Trust, he said, had to be the key ingredient in the relationship.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
On SIA management: Start afresh and earn staff's trust
By Zuraidah Ibrahim
WITH a new chief executive officer at the helm, it is time for Singapore Airlines (SIA) to close the book on its troubled relations with its pilots and start afresh, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew said yesterday.
'Look, I'm not here to defend the human relations side of SIA. I think if it was well done, we wouldn't have had this problem,' he said in an interview with reporters from Singapore Press Holdings. He was asked to comment on what the Government felt SIA management can do to ensure smoother relations with its staff.
In an earlier statement after the pilots union ousted its leadership last November, the Government urged SIA management to improve its human resource practices.
It also announced its intention to tighten the law to stop the pilots union leadership having to go back to members for their final say on any negotiations with management.
Yesterday, Mr Lee noted that laws cannot make for good relations between employers and employees as they only curb excesses.
'For positive relations, you need trust. The employee must know the employer has his interest at heart. He's not just out to squeeze him and show profits and be done with it and he gets big bonuses. In other words, there must be confidence.'
He noted that confidence can be built over time if management shares information with workers on the challenges ahead. As it is, with listed companies having to file their returns quarterly, information is already made public in a more timely fashion.
So there is no harm in management keeping the unions posted, he said. 'But they should also try and get the union on board on what they want to do, what their hopes are.'
Moving on to make a point about trust between employers, workers and the Government, he said if the Government and employers had not been on the level with unions, there would not be such 'equable, sensible relations' with them, including private sector unions.
The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) had been able to deliver. 'Now, if NTUC lets down its members because it wants to please the Government, NTUC will soon lose credibility.
'Why is NTUC able to maintain its credibility and increase its membership? Because, at the end of the day, the workers and the members can see that results justify making these accommodations, that they have not been shortchanged.'
The same approach can be taken with SIA pilots, but union leaders need to be people who can be trusted and be told the facts without those facts being leaked to competitors.
'So really it's a question of building up confidence,' he said. Referring to changes in SIA top management, he added: 'However difficult it is, this is a chance to make a fresh start after Cheong Choong Kong and after Joe Pillay.
'Well, there's Chew Choon Seng. Let's start afresh... I've already spoken to him that this is a chance to close the ledger and start afresh.'
Mr Chew succeeded Dr Cheong as CEO last June.
Mr Lee did not think the task of improving human relations lies with the HR department alone.
'Human relations means across the board, every section, every head, every vice-president has a job to keep his people informed and to carry his people with it. That's the way we have worked in the Government. That's the way NTUC has worked.'
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No problem Senior Minister. You get right on ahead adjusting the tracks and switching the signals on your train set. However, I’m not Singaporean, I’m an ex-pat pilot on a commercial contract with your airline and you have, without consultation, materially changed important parts of that contract and, because of the peculiarities of your own national politics, of which you are the architect, have bullied the former executive council of the Singapore Pilots’ Association into grossly changing the rest of it. Meanwhile, I continue working for you at vastly reduced salary from that I contracted for, legally bonded for a considerable time more, with a contract over which I had no control of the changes made to it. Perhaps, in the interest of the equity and fair play which your latest interview style purports to demonstrate, you would now like to release me from my bond, so that I can leave Singapore tomorrow and not have to share in the financial pain I did not contract for, an not interested in taking and which you deem necessary for the employees of Singapore Airlines, as I am not Singaporean and have zero to do with the future of your nation (the fact of which you have made repeatedly clear over the past 35 years). Release me and every ex-pat from their bond, Senior Minister and then let’s see who’s bluffing.
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Very interesting to note the post of John Barnes on another thread, to the effect that:
"I think it is all much simpler than we first thought. The fact that the SIA pilots' saga hits the local papers every day and most of the days as front page news is just the proof that the "leaders" are very very worried. They know something is cooking in their own kitchen, and they also know that they can't take it off the boil. The "wind beneath my wings" is getting louder and louder. The locals are finally fed up and are ready to fight. They fight with their feet and just leave."
I believe that he is absolutely correct and that perhaps the "high-water mark" of Lee Kuan Yew's carefully orchestrated campaign against the pilots may have been reached, for the time being at least, pending what will shortly be misrepresented by LKY as prima facie rabble-rousing but will, in fact, be the next wary Alpa-S move to assert its democratic and statutory right to effectively represent the membership in its negotiation of the Collective Agreement (CA). Perhaps for the moment, his minders have convinced him to lay-off, otherwise he's in great danger of wrecking the train set and (to mix metaphors) pull the plug from the dyke and set the dominoes falling in Singapore (third metaphor!).
He is very frightened of the pilots and tacitly admitted so yesterday (courtesy of Straits Times and R. Lee), saying that they had the power to massively disrupt SIA and, by implication, Singapore as well, and that "he was not going to allow that", meaning he would wade in with bare knuckles and sort the pilots out "just like he did the communist vermin in the fifties" (my own alliteration).
And this of course demonstrates another fascinating aspect of this whole affair, which is that the concept of the office of "Senior Minister", implying an elder statesman quietly moving off center-stage and gracefully ceding power to a new Prime Minister is merely LKY "smoke and mirrors" (as mentioned by myself and others, a Singapore specialty). It is now perfectly obvious to even an apolitical ostrich with its head in the silicon that in Singapore every decision on anything at anytime is taken by one man and one man only ¡V and it sure isn't "Prime Minister" Goh Chok Tong and it sure isn't the little boy, "BG" Lee and it most certainly isn't any of the band of highly paid, rubber stamping flunkies, jokingly called "Ministers". No, everything is done with either the approval or on the orders of the "great man" and it will be so, until he dies following which event, the son may face something of a dilemma, as present day Singapore is only held together by the fear generated by his "strong-man" father, always a formula, shown by history, to be a very shaky basis for onward national survival.
So yes, John Barnes, if (or when) the CA negotiations turn to dust, I'm afraid that really, the only voting option for the individual pilot is with his feet (with or without the notice SIA never honors anyway and with or without completing the medieval bonded servitude that still exists in this "first world nation"). In the golden-olden LKY days of the eighties, this might have been considered a radical step but (memo to himself) in today's connected globe, with a steadily recovering air transport industry, it most certainly isn't!
"I think it is all much simpler than we first thought. The fact that the SIA pilots' saga hits the local papers every day and most of the days as front page news is just the proof that the "leaders" are very very worried. They know something is cooking in their own kitchen, and they also know that they can't take it off the boil. The "wind beneath my wings" is getting louder and louder. The locals are finally fed up and are ready to fight. They fight with their feet and just leave."
I believe that he is absolutely correct and that perhaps the "high-water mark" of Lee Kuan Yew's carefully orchestrated campaign against the pilots may have been reached, for the time being at least, pending what will shortly be misrepresented by LKY as prima facie rabble-rousing but will, in fact, be the next wary Alpa-S move to assert its democratic and statutory right to effectively represent the membership in its negotiation of the Collective Agreement (CA). Perhaps for the moment, his minders have convinced him to lay-off, otherwise he's in great danger of wrecking the train set and (to mix metaphors) pull the plug from the dyke and set the dominoes falling in Singapore (third metaphor!).
He is very frightened of the pilots and tacitly admitted so yesterday (courtesy of Straits Times and R. Lee), saying that they had the power to massively disrupt SIA and, by implication, Singapore as well, and that "he was not going to allow that", meaning he would wade in with bare knuckles and sort the pilots out "just like he did the communist vermin in the fifties" (my own alliteration).
And this of course demonstrates another fascinating aspect of this whole affair, which is that the concept of the office of "Senior Minister", implying an elder statesman quietly moving off center-stage and gracefully ceding power to a new Prime Minister is merely LKY "smoke and mirrors" (as mentioned by myself and others, a Singapore specialty). It is now perfectly obvious to even an apolitical ostrich with its head in the silicon that in Singapore every decision on anything at anytime is taken by one man and one man only ¡V and it sure isn't "Prime Minister" Goh Chok Tong and it sure isn't the little boy, "BG" Lee and it most certainly isn't any of the band of highly paid, rubber stamping flunkies, jokingly called "Ministers". No, everything is done with either the approval or on the orders of the "great man" and it will be so, until he dies following which event, the son may face something of a dilemma, as present day Singapore is only held together by the fear generated by his "strong-man" father, always a formula, shown by history, to be a very shaky basis for onward national survival.
So yes, John Barnes, if (or when) the CA negotiations turn to dust, I'm afraid that really, the only voting option for the individual pilot is with his feet (with or without the notice SIA never honors anyway and with or without completing the medieval bonded servitude that still exists in this "first world nation"). In the golden-olden LKY days of the eighties, this might have been considered a radical step but (memo to himself) in today's connected globe, with a steadily recovering air transport industry, it most certainly isn't!
Last edited by Insider107; 11th Jan 2004 at 13:27.
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High Cirrus...good posting (s). Maybe at SQ they could just release all of the expats from their bonds and ,as you say, see who is bluffing. It sounds like SQ is getting to be a miserable place to work and Mr. Lee should not conduct his relations with his employees in the press.
One has to be happy where they are working and it sounds like a lot of people would relish the release of their bond.
I understand that another new hire class of guys started at China Airlines. I wish them well and I think they will be welcomed there. I get back to Taipei on the 11th and look forward to meeting them.
And as for his "name calling" of three other carriers, I find that absolutely reprehensible. I am proud to have the job I do and enjoy the people around me.
One has to be happy where they are working and it sounds like a lot of people would relish the release of their bond.
I understand that another new hire class of guys started at China Airlines. I wish them well and I think they will be welcomed there. I get back to Taipei on the 11th and look forward to meeting them.
And as for his "name calling" of three other carriers, I find that absolutely reprehensible. I am proud to have the job I do and enjoy the people around me.
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Excellent post highcirrus.
Companies have the right to change the employment terms for their employees but this can only be done with adequate notice, in line with contracts already undertaken and without the threat of further financial penalty if the employees choose not to accept the new terms and seek employment elsewhere.
If SIA believe it is reasonable to pay well below market salaries then let them announce those salaries with an effective date perhaps 12 months from now. Let them release all pilots from their bonding immediately and see how many are prepared to stay on for more of the same treatment.
Other airlines around the world make profits whilst paying staff market rate salaries and honouring contracts. Where bonding exists it is usually for a period of 3 years and of the order of S$ 45,000, a fraction of the total SIA bond.
Perhaps SIA would like their pilots to fly only 83.5% of the distance to destination or land safely only 83.5% of the time!
SIA are not losing money. If they are not making as much as they would like it is not because they pay their staff too much. Compare their staff costs with their ticket prices and show us a comparable airline that has a better ratio. If the staff are not being used efficiently that is a management problem. If they have too many "expensive expat pilots" then just stop renewing expat contracts. That would lead to a steady reduction of 80 to 100 pilots per year. Alternatively base more of them overseas and save schooling and education subsidies.
Most pilots in SIA want to work hard and be well payed for doing so. If there are those who don't want to work then let them leave and pay those that do the market rate and get back to having well motivated pilots who feel that their contribution is appreciated and properly rewarded.
The SM admits that fuel is an essential requirement for airline operation. He should try airline operation without skilled pilots, he may come to the conclusion that they are needed too!
Companies have the right to change the employment terms for their employees but this can only be done with adequate notice, in line with contracts already undertaken and without the threat of further financial penalty if the employees choose not to accept the new terms and seek employment elsewhere.
If SIA believe it is reasonable to pay well below market salaries then let them announce those salaries with an effective date perhaps 12 months from now. Let them release all pilots from their bonding immediately and see how many are prepared to stay on for more of the same treatment.
Other airlines around the world make profits whilst paying staff market rate salaries and honouring contracts. Where bonding exists it is usually for a period of 3 years and of the order of S$ 45,000, a fraction of the total SIA bond.
Perhaps SIA would like their pilots to fly only 83.5% of the distance to destination or land safely only 83.5% of the time!
SIA are not losing money. If they are not making as much as they would like it is not because they pay their staff too much. Compare their staff costs with their ticket prices and show us a comparable airline that has a better ratio. If the staff are not being used efficiently that is a management problem. If they have too many "expensive expat pilots" then just stop renewing expat contracts. That would lead to a steady reduction of 80 to 100 pilots per year. Alternatively base more of them overseas and save schooling and education subsidies.
Most pilots in SIA want to work hard and be well payed for doing so. If there are those who don't want to work then let them leave and pay those that do the market rate and get back to having well motivated pilots who feel that their contribution is appreciated and properly rewarded.
The SM admits that fuel is an essential requirement for airline operation. He should try airline operation without skilled pilots, he may come to the conclusion that they are needed too!
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Re: On SIA management: Start afresh and earn staff's trust
By Zuraidah Ibrahim – Straits Times, 6 Jan 2004
Senior Minister Lee, in the role of “nice cop”, following a good gallop as “bad cop”, came up with a number of what, on the face of them, looked to be reasonable and even conciliatory remarks during interview. Perhaps I am allowed to pass comment on this forum? I most certainly couldn’t do so safely anywhere in Singapore!
LKY - 'Look, I'm not here to defend the human relations side of SIA’
– Good, well perhaps you’d like to move PAP MP Loh Meng See from his position as Senior Vice President Human Resources, SIA. Mr Loh is obviously more talented in serving PAP full time than he is in serving SIA Human Resources Division. As readers will remember, it was Mr Loh’s signature which graced the clumsy letter of 30 Sept 2003, kindly informing us all, out of the blue, that the SIA Provident Fund was to be frozen with effect from 1 Nov 2003 as a “cost saving measure” (OK if I stop paying Income Tax – I need to find a few “cost saving measures” myself?). Nice handling Mr Loh – straight from the Do It Yourself HR handbook! We all thought your actions perfectly reasonable and we all thought it was such a refreshing departure from boring old convention when you saved us the bother of consultation and negotiation – all we had to do was sit there and mutely accept the situation! Oh and you were so quick off the mark that you didn’t fully explore the equally boring legal ramifications of your panicky actions, did you?
LKY - It (the government) also announced its intention to tighten the law to stop the pilots’ union leadership having to go back to members for their final say on any negotiations with management.
– Oh very nice, Senior Minister! Do you now imagine that the Alpa-S Exco will henceforth cut cozy deals in smoke filled rooms with your cronies following the agenda and figures that you kindly map out for everyone? I think not, SM! Even if a vote becomes illegal (what price democracy in Singapore and how do you explain this latest move to your “freedom loving” American protectors?), the Exco will return to the members for consultation. What next? - A law to add to the plethora of such laws in Singapore, this time banning consultation?!
LKY - 'For positive relations, you need trust. The employee must know the employer has his interest at heart. He's not just out to squeeze him and show profits and be done with it and he gets big bonuses. In other words, there must be confidence.'
- Senior Minister: the atmosphere on planet Lee must be exceptionally rare and conducive to light-headedness and cloudy perception. What you describe above is precisely the behavior of SIA. The airline is and has been for decades, an inhuman, rapacious consumer of employees, sucking the energy, enthusiasm and talent from the individual, “nickel and diming” them at every turn and contemptuously flicking them onto the garbage heap when their usefulness is deemed to be over. Please therefore explain to your interested audience, precisely how we should all go about trusting your much vaunted “management” of Singapore Airlines?
LKY - He noted that confidence can be built over time if management shares information with workers on the challenges ahead. As it is, with listed companies having to file their returns quarterly, information is already made public in a more timely fashion.
– Senior Minister: surely you are aware that, outside perhaps North Korea, Singapore Airlines has one of the most secretive cultures in the world – a culture not built by employees but built by a “management” operating in your shadow and fearful of your every criticism and punishment. Until there is a change of heart from the very top – that is you – there will be no change of culture, so don’t hold your breath about the effectiveness of some new cipher you’ve put in as latest CEO of your airline.
LKY – ‘The same approach (as NTUC) can be taken with SIA pilots, but union leaders need to be people who can be trusted and be told the facts without those facts being leaked to competitors’.
– Nice one Senior Minister. So the guys who can be trusted to fly the zillion dollar jets crammed chock full of your fare payers including Mrs Lee on her unscheduled return from the clutches of the (free) British health service which you so readily criticized, are the same guys who, on the ground, are now the worthless degenerates incapable of maturely evaluating the true facts of the matter and confidentially negotiating an equable settlement between airline and association membership? In the context of releasing confidential information, please see my comment above, re: North Korea. Maybe you should examine your own approach to the matter?
LKY - 'Well, there's Chew Choon Seng. Let's start afresh... I've already spoken to him that this is a chance to close the ledger and start afresh.'
– Well that’s OK then. Problem solved! We’ll just do it your way!
By Zuraidah Ibrahim – Straits Times, 6 Jan 2004
Senior Minister Lee, in the role of “nice cop”, following a good gallop as “bad cop”, came up with a number of what, on the face of them, looked to be reasonable and even conciliatory remarks during interview. Perhaps I am allowed to pass comment on this forum? I most certainly couldn’t do so safely anywhere in Singapore!
LKY - 'Look, I'm not here to defend the human relations side of SIA’
– Good, well perhaps you’d like to move PAP MP Loh Meng See from his position as Senior Vice President Human Resources, SIA. Mr Loh is obviously more talented in serving PAP full time than he is in serving SIA Human Resources Division. As readers will remember, it was Mr Loh’s signature which graced the clumsy letter of 30 Sept 2003, kindly informing us all, out of the blue, that the SIA Provident Fund was to be frozen with effect from 1 Nov 2003 as a “cost saving measure” (OK if I stop paying Income Tax – I need to find a few “cost saving measures” myself?). Nice handling Mr Loh – straight from the Do It Yourself HR handbook! We all thought your actions perfectly reasonable and we all thought it was such a refreshing departure from boring old convention when you saved us the bother of consultation and negotiation – all we had to do was sit there and mutely accept the situation! Oh and you were so quick off the mark that you didn’t fully explore the equally boring legal ramifications of your panicky actions, did you?
LKY - It (the government) also announced its intention to tighten the law to stop the pilots’ union leadership having to go back to members for their final say on any negotiations with management.
– Oh very nice, Senior Minister! Do you now imagine that the Alpa-S Exco will henceforth cut cozy deals in smoke filled rooms with your cronies following the agenda and figures that you kindly map out for everyone? I think not, SM! Even if a vote becomes illegal (what price democracy in Singapore and how do you explain this latest move to your “freedom loving” American protectors?), the Exco will return to the members for consultation. What next? - A law to add to the plethora of such laws in Singapore, this time banning consultation?!
LKY - 'For positive relations, you need trust. The employee must know the employer has his interest at heart. He's not just out to squeeze him and show profits and be done with it and he gets big bonuses. In other words, there must be confidence.'
- Senior Minister: the atmosphere on planet Lee must be exceptionally rare and conducive to light-headedness and cloudy perception. What you describe above is precisely the behavior of SIA. The airline is and has been for decades, an inhuman, rapacious consumer of employees, sucking the energy, enthusiasm and talent from the individual, “nickel and diming” them at every turn and contemptuously flicking them onto the garbage heap when their usefulness is deemed to be over. Please therefore explain to your interested audience, precisely how we should all go about trusting your much vaunted “management” of Singapore Airlines?
LKY - He noted that confidence can be built over time if management shares information with workers on the challenges ahead. As it is, with listed companies having to file their returns quarterly, information is already made public in a more timely fashion.
– Senior Minister: surely you are aware that, outside perhaps North Korea, Singapore Airlines has one of the most secretive cultures in the world – a culture not built by employees but built by a “management” operating in your shadow and fearful of your every criticism and punishment. Until there is a change of heart from the very top – that is you – there will be no change of culture, so don’t hold your breath about the effectiveness of some new cipher you’ve put in as latest CEO of your airline.
LKY – ‘The same approach (as NTUC) can be taken with SIA pilots, but union leaders need to be people who can be trusted and be told the facts without those facts being leaked to competitors’.
– Nice one Senior Minister. So the guys who can be trusted to fly the zillion dollar jets crammed chock full of your fare payers including Mrs Lee on her unscheduled return from the clutches of the (free) British health service which you so readily criticized, are the same guys who, on the ground, are now the worthless degenerates incapable of maturely evaluating the true facts of the matter and confidentially negotiating an equable settlement between airline and association membership? In the context of releasing confidential information, please see my comment above, re: North Korea. Maybe you should examine your own approach to the matter?
LKY - 'Well, there's Chew Choon Seng. Let's start afresh... I've already spoken to him that this is a chance to close the ledger and start afresh.'
– Well that’s OK then. Problem solved! We’ll just do it your way!
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Pretty good highcirrus. I notice that LKY mentioned trust and confidence, as detailed in your excellent post:
LKY - 'For positive relations, you need trust. The employee must know the employer has his interest at heart. He's not just out to squeeze him and show profits and be done with it and he gets big bonuses. In other words, there must be confidence.'
LKY - He noted that confidence can be built over time if management shares information with workers on the challenges ahead.
Maybe LKY could engender trust in the future by making SIA employment contracts worth more that the scrappy pieces of paper that they are currently printed on, by not unilaterally changing the things at any old time that suits him. And secondly, I’m sure confidence could be created by sharing the exact information on costs saved during the recent post SARS panic stricken exercise of retrenchments, compulsory unpaid leave and swingeing pay cuts, not indulged in by the mature and measured managements of the other SARS affected international and regional carriers.
I think we need a lot more than fine words from LKY. On second thoughts we don’t even need these, as a hell of a lot of us will never believe him anyway and we’re off from this blighted island as soon as possible.
LKY - 'For positive relations, you need trust. The employee must know the employer has his interest at heart. He's not just out to squeeze him and show profits and be done with it and he gets big bonuses. In other words, there must be confidence.'
LKY - He noted that confidence can be built over time if management shares information with workers on the challenges ahead.
Maybe LKY could engender trust in the future by making SIA employment contracts worth more that the scrappy pieces of paper that they are currently printed on, by not unilaterally changing the things at any old time that suits him. And secondly, I’m sure confidence could be created by sharing the exact information on costs saved during the recent post SARS panic stricken exercise of retrenchments, compulsory unpaid leave and swingeing pay cuts, not indulged in by the mature and measured managements of the other SARS affected international and regional carriers.
I think we need a lot more than fine words from LKY. On second thoughts we don’t even need these, as a hell of a lot of us will never believe him anyway and we’re off from this blighted island as soon as possible.
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"Any downturn,(as an expat) you're the first to go. Right?'
Wrong..... SIA sacked ~23 pilots in the SARS crisis last year, all but one expats, cant remember Emirates or Dragonair doing much more than slowing recruitment. EK and KA both offer structured carear paths, and job stability, not just contracts to alien workers.
SIA have been abusing their pilots for the last 10 years, and it looks like finally the guys are going to bite back. Hopefully the old sod will wreck the airline before he gives himself a heart attack... watch this space.
Wrong..... SIA sacked ~23 pilots in the SARS crisis last year, all but one expats, cant remember Emirates or Dragonair doing much more than slowing recruitment. EK and KA both offer structured carear paths, and job stability, not just contracts to alien workers.
SIA have been abusing their pilots for the last 10 years, and it looks like finally the guys are going to bite back. Hopefully the old sod will wreck the airline before he gives himself a heart attack... watch this space.
Join Date: Aug 2000
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It isn't a trickle anymore!!!! Every month a solid 8 to 10 senior pilots will be leaving to the different airlines that are hiring now. At least 100 to 150 have been interviewd, accepted, and are just waiting for the class dates. The interesting fact is now that no matter what the new CA will promise, and no matter what the new salaries might be, these guys have had enough and are leaving. As I said before they are voting with their feet, and leave in big numbers. Where last year a lot of people were very secretive about their future plans, it's now all in the open. Very soon SIA will be very short of crews again. If the pilots would manage their jobs the way HR managed over the last ten years we would see a hull loss every month!!!
Join Date: Aug 1999
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Of course the real issue here to LKY and his corrupt bunch of cronies, is not a few renegade pilots, but the "threat" perceived from "People power". The naughty pilots executed their democratic right to remove their former sycophantic "union" leaders who went off course with regards actually trying to improve conditions.
What LKY is rather paranoid about is that this action may actually take hold in other unions and workers representative councils in other none related industries in Singapore. What if Sembawang Engineering, Tamesek holdings or SPH workers decide that we also want a bit more democracy? Well the tide would soon turn, and as in other despotic states, the tyrannical leaders would be fleeing for safer climates. For LKY, probably his private clinic in Switzerland, all paid for by ...err ...his loyal subjects of course.
The current situation in SIA unfortunately makes me feel rather smug. Since '97 I've been posting my candid thoughts of what actually goes on in Singapore, to be received by cries of, no this can’t be so, Singapore is so wonderful... isn’t it? Well, the writing has been on the wall (that’s the lavatory wall sir) for years. I got out rather a long time ago, but am surprised to hear how many guys are still remain chained by their stupidity to continue to sign yet more bonds. Enforced labor is one thing, but having completed 5 years of a sentence, and then signing along the line for another 3 is probably certifiable lunacy in most countries.
I therefore have no sympathy for the estranged expats still serving time in SIA. You have had so many opportunities to leave, but were hoodwinked by that 744 rating waved in front of you. Greed my friends is what trap you've fallen into. The '44 rating has corrupted you just as much as the 20% discount LKY received as a back hander from his nephew when he purchased a luxury flat in Singapore a few years ago. You are no different, and im very surprised the old fella has treated his own kind so badly.
Better luck in the next life guys
What LKY is rather paranoid about is that this action may actually take hold in other unions and workers representative councils in other none related industries in Singapore. What if Sembawang Engineering, Tamesek holdings or SPH workers decide that we also want a bit more democracy? Well the tide would soon turn, and as in other despotic states, the tyrannical leaders would be fleeing for safer climates. For LKY, probably his private clinic in Switzerland, all paid for by ...err ...his loyal subjects of course.
The current situation in SIA unfortunately makes me feel rather smug. Since '97 I've been posting my candid thoughts of what actually goes on in Singapore, to be received by cries of, no this can’t be so, Singapore is so wonderful... isn’t it? Well, the writing has been on the wall (that’s the lavatory wall sir) for years. I got out rather a long time ago, but am surprised to hear how many guys are still remain chained by their stupidity to continue to sign yet more bonds. Enforced labor is one thing, but having completed 5 years of a sentence, and then signing along the line for another 3 is probably certifiable lunacy in most countries.
I therefore have no sympathy for the estranged expats still serving time in SIA. You have had so many opportunities to leave, but were hoodwinked by that 744 rating waved in front of you. Greed my friends is what trap you've fallen into. The '44 rating has corrupted you just as much as the 20% discount LKY received as a back hander from his nephew when he purchased a luxury flat in Singapore a few years ago. You are no different, and im very surprised the old fella has treated his own kind so badly.
Better luck in the next life guys
Join Date: Jul 2002
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sia sniffer You are of course right in most of what you say re SQ, certainly the discount LKY got on that Scotts Road Apartment was a typical example of double standards.
Of course not every ex-pat Pilot has the luxury of being able to leave SQ after the first 5 Year Bondage is up, and also you forget that until a year or so ago things in SQ were not that bad as one could assume at least a 3 months Bonus and taxes in Singapore have been reduced over the past few years.
Now things are entirely different as The Pilots are attacked on an almost daily basis both financially with loss of Salary, Provident Fund, Bonus and by Government Minister from the Senile One downwards.
Strange how we never hear from these Government Lackeys about the $2 Billion lost by the late CEO through his disastrous investments in Air NZ/ Ansett and Virgin Atlantic, which the SQ staff are having to pay for. Of course being part of the Singapore Establishment he goes onto being made a Director of a Bank!!!
Of course not every ex-pat Pilot has the luxury of being able to leave SQ after the first 5 Year Bondage is up, and also you forget that until a year or so ago things in SQ were not that bad as one could assume at least a 3 months Bonus and taxes in Singapore have been reduced over the past few years.
Now things are entirely different as The Pilots are attacked on an almost daily basis both financially with loss of Salary, Provident Fund, Bonus and by Government Minister from the Senile One downwards.
Strange how we never hear from these Government Lackeys about the $2 Billion lost by the late CEO through his disastrous investments in Air NZ/ Ansett and Virgin Atlantic, which the SQ staff are having to pay for. Of course being part of the Singapore Establishment he goes onto being made a Director of a Bank!!!