SIA pilots urged by union to boycott dinner
 

SIA pilots urged by union to boycott dinner

SINGAPORE Airlines pilots have been urged by their union to boycott an annual social gathering organised by the airline.

The dinner, on Feb 25, is held by SIA to show its appreciation to pilots and honour top performers with service awards, its spokesman Nicholas Ionides said.

In the last few months, SIA and the Air Line Pilots Association (Singapore), Alpa-S, have been embroiled in a tussle over pay and other benefits for employment beyond 62.

The Straits Times understands that when negotiations started, the airline had proposed that pilots reaching the retirement age of 62 would be paid the basic starting pay, forgoing all previous increments.

This would mean a pay cut of up to $8,000 for a senior captain. The airline has about 2,000 pilots.

This proposal was rejected by the pilots.

Despite the Manpower Minister stepping in to mediate in the latest dispute, both sides remain at loggerheads.

Alpa-S also represents pilots from SilkAir and SIA Cargo but they are not invited to the party.

The event will go ahead as planned, said Mr Ionides.

In a one-page electronic newsletter to SIA pilots yesterday that The Straits Times learnt about, the 20 office-bearers of the SIA branch committee of Alpa-S said relations with management 'have regrettably reached an undesirable stage'.

The company has also shown 'lack of genuine commitment in resolving the issues', it added.

Given the state of affairs, the note stated that the committee members have 'unanimously' decided not to attend the function and hope that members will 'consider it worth your while to follow suit'.

Alpa-S president Captain P. James, who is not a member of the SIA branch committee, said that as union head, he is 100 per cent behind the boycott.

'We support the call,' he said, adding that relations with management are 'at a real low point'.

He said: 'This is a way for the pilots to peacefully show our dissatisfaction without affecting operations in any way.'

This is not the first time that relations between SIA and its pilots have hit turbulence.

After reaching rock-bottom in 2003 when the Sars crisis led to pay cuts and disgruntled pilots, management-union ties improved considerably after intervention by then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Over the years, there have been fresh disputes but both sides have managed to resolve their differences, until now.

Mr Ionides did not respond directly to queries on whether relations with Alpa-S have soured considerably in recent times. He said: 'In any relationship, there will be ups and downs of course, but it is always important to maintain open lines of communication.'

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I am sure all the Cargo pilots would boycott it too. But as we have not been invited please accept our moral support.

i just saw a whole lot of SIA pilots with smiley faces inside the reporting room when i went to Changi Airport two days ago

Unhappy?

SIA up to its usual fun and games?

Perhaps they are a lot lot younger than 62? And that folks are looking at nothing less than 5mths bonus?

nothing has changed.........yawn, even after 20 years.
same old tricks and responses to deny the pilots their salary.
nothing is going to happen in the end.

[QUOTE] SIA up to its usual fun and games?
(/QUOTE]

a345X
Well said! What new, history repeats, its all the sediwara! ;)

Happy landings!

Can't boycott the dinner since I was specifically wasn't invited. Shucks.

"Perhaps they are a lot lot younger than 62? And that folks are looking at nothing less than 5mths bonus?"

OMG! Where do you even get that from? I'm assuming you've never worked a day in the company nor know anything. Even with profits and $1billion, you'll see that not even 3 mths bonus is a given.

SIAC not invited for the dinner...
This is pure discrimination.
It was clear stated by the SIAC branch president that he wishes to get rid of all expat pilots. What a rude thing to say in front of the people paying his extra salary.
Professional courtesy in SIAC? Forget it.

Thats funny, why would SIAC be hiring asper their website

Zekeigo

What's so difficult to understand this.. "Divide and rule" is the name of the game.

"Discrmination" in SIN is normal! ;)

Good luck guys!

Lee Not sure I agree with you that LKY's intervention improved Union/Management in 2003. Previous history shows that he has always threatened them as to what could happen if they got too uppity.

When the CA renewal was not agreed after 2 plus years talk talk with Alpha-S a few years before SARS the General made it clear that if their offer was not accepted then no back pay would be given and the offer cancelled. I have no doubt LKY encouraged that hard line attitude as he has no love of Pilots.

YHC80
I had definitely worked longer than you have been with SQ and did receive approximately 6mths bonus before during the good times. It was only things were not going well a short while back, I left along with a bunch of others.
In case you haven't been around long enough, the rest of us are pretty much used to all sorts of sarcasms and not having your kind of outburst. I do understand how frustrating it is for you as a copilot in SQ, but you do have to take it easy if you're here to take part in RUMOUR NETWORK discussion.