Cathay Pacific Interview Info.

[reepicheep]

Whether or not you agree with the "ban", consider the kind of work environment you would experience if you go...it will be like flying with the worst captain you ever worked with, on every trip, maybe for the rest of your career. There would be exceptions, but overall you would be pretty miserable.

 

[KC-10 Driver]

Regardless of what Center says, do yourself a favor and don't take a job at CX. Once upon a time, it would have been a dream job, but not any more.

The current management (supported by a decidedly non-democratic government) combined with the labor problems would make it intolerable, and you might regret it for a very long time.

 

[KC-10 Driver]

For more info on the travails at Cathay, go to www.pprune.com and enter the forum.

Scroll down to the Regional Issues Forums, and enter the Fragrant Harbor forum.

 

[Dieterly]

Intel...

Latest intel is that the current AOA president is about to be replaced, and the incoming president will drop the ban...

 

[bigred]

Dear
I have prepared the following letter for all non-cadet pilots who chose to join Cathay
Pacific Airways after October 09, 2001. As the management of Cathay Pacific
refuse to provide the HKAOA with a list of new aircrew, their status and joining date, it is possible that some pilots may receive this letter in error. If this is the case, I offer my sincere apologies and request that you contact the Association to clarify your status.
HKAOA SUMMARY – ONGOING INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE
Under normal circumstances, it would be my pleasure to welcome you to Cathay Pacific Airways and invite you to join the representative body of Cathay Pacific pilots, the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association. Unfortunately, these are not normal circumstances. I am sure that you gave very careful consideration to your decision to seek a career with Cathay Pacific Airways prior to coming to Hong Kong. You will have no doubt been aware of the widely publicized Recruitment Ban placed upon Cathay Pacific by the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA).
We maintain that the most intelligent resolution to any dispute is through effective
communication. We sincerely hoped that we would be able to resolve the dispute
with management through communication so that you would not have been affected personally. Regrettably, they have chosen instead to cease effective communications with the pilots and consequently, they have placed you in an unenviable position.
The Dispute
This dispute has its origins in 1993 when management introduced a degraded and discriminatory “B Scale” salary scheme. This was followed the following year by blackmail on all pilots to accept a non-negotiated Conditions of Service (CoS) including a hybrid set of Rostering Practices (RP) – RP94. “Closure” on those issues could probably have been achieved if management had ceased all further unilateral degradations to CoS and if they had negotiated in good faith over subsequent years. Unfortunately, that was not the case and the number and enormity of the disagreements increased. Ironically, RP94 proved to be inefficient and management needed further productivity as Company expansion continued. Management continued to change RP94 unilaterally until the Association was forced to lodge legal proceedings in 1997. Following the Asian financial crisis later in 1997, negotiations on nearly completed new RPs were terminated and management prepared to demand further pilot concessions. In 1999, more than 700 of the most senior pilots were threatened with termination unless they signed yet another new CoS – CoS 99. This is the contract upon which you have been hired. As you can see, the CoS have evolved over the last 55 years into a substantial document, which is the culmination of a huge amount of effort by all of your predecessors – Cathay Pacific’s pilots. Although substantial, they are certainly not flawless and it is disagreement over many of those flaws that contributes to the current dispute.
Union Bust
The Association has metamorphosed quite rapidly since 1994. There are two phrases that each party use to summarise their position. Although brief, they encapsulate the essence of disagreement:
· “Management has the right to manage”
· “The management get the union they deserve”
It is the Association’s position that the current management desire to “bust” the union so that they would have a compliant pilot work force, which is as ineffective as the Local Staff Union. If they so succeed, your predecessors’ efforts of the last 55 years to provide a contract that promises a reasonable career will be destroyed. The Association cannot allow that to pass. Consequently, we reluctantly entered last summer into a “Limited Industrial Action” designed to bring the minimum loss of revenue to the Company whilst bringing more pressure on management to negotiate in good faith. Management overreacted wildly by sacking 53 pilots in one week, including 49 on 9th July, in the vain attempt to force a strike and a subsequent lockout. Had that occurred, it is likely that they would have been able to extract further major concessions. There are few protective labour laws in Hong Kong leaving us all much more vulnerable than in your home country.
The 49ers
Please find attached a recent Association publication that summarises The 49er situation. It also explains how the remainder of Cathay’s pilots are subjected to daily intimidation and contract abuse. It does not, however, catalogue the extensive degradation in flight safety margins that have occurred over the last 2 years; this is a separate subject of which you should also be aware. Once you have considered the attached publication, you should more fully understand why the Association requested that IFALPA enacts a Recruitment Ban, in accordance with long-standing IFALPA Policies, to protect the livelihoods of The 49ers and their families. It is an interim measure until the dispute is resolved.
The IFALPA Recruitment Ban
Further amplification on the Ban can be found on the Internet at http://bbs.hkalpa.org. In summary, more than 114,000 pilots worldwide consider that any pilots hired by CPA or its subsidiaries from or after 9th October 2001 to be workers hired specifically to replace The 49ers. Additionally, at its Annual Conference on 6th May, the Federation reaffirmed its position and passed a resolution condemning management’s actions. We use the term “replacement workers”; Captain Barley, the Cathay Pacific Airways Director Flight Operations, has frequently referred to you as a “Scab”. We find his term distasteful; however, it is also a sad echo of the parlous industrial management in our once fine company. Professional pilots around the world have respected the well-advertised IFALPA Recruitment Ban and declined offers of replacement employment from Cathay Pacific. Meanwhile, you chose to ignore the Ban, undermining attempts by existing employees to achieve a prompt and satisfactory conclusion to this dispute. The Ban was enacted to stop other pilots from taking the career and livelihoods away from 52 pilots and their families who were randomly chosen for termination by your new employer. It is appreciated that you feel that you may have “reasons” for accepting the job offer from Cathay Pacific. However, you have not accepted an offer of a new position with Cathay Pacific – you have asked a wrongfully terminated officer to trade his career for yours; in effect you have demanded that he forsake the security of his family, his home and his future for your personal advancement. By joining Cathay Pacific at this time you have also rendered yourself ineligible for union membership and permanently listed your name in all 96 IFALPA Member Associations worldwide. Regardless of how brief your career with Cathay Pacific may be, this mark will follow you for life unless this Association requests otherwise. Pilots who crossed picket lines to join Ansett some thirteen years ago are now out of work, and are learning that lesson the hard way. Ex-Continental and Eastern pilots who crossed picket lines in the 1980’s still find themselves on regularly updated lists, even those who are now past retirement age. They too are universally referred to as “Scabs” and it is inevitable that you will receive similar discrimination because of management’s gross mishandling of its employees.
Discrimination
It is against Company Policy for any employee to unfairly discriminate against another. Ironically, management selected The 49ers solely to discriminate against union members. However, our 1300 members are making considerable financial and emotional sacrifice to support those wrongfully dismissed. Whilst not condoning discrimination, it is a sad reality that you will inevitably suffer the emotional backlash and the pilots’ frustration with mismanagement. Please do not be under any illusion that this backlash will be short lived – history undeniably proves otherwise.
Flight Safety
In the best interests of safety and in the vain hope of averting further management “entrenchment”, the Association has deliberately and patiently adopted a very low profile on the Recruitment Ban subsequent to the terrorist attacks last September. Your presence does not enhance flight deck safety as it only serves as an overt signal of disharmony. Your existence on Cathay Pacific flight decks will place a negative pressure on Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) and can only serve to further reduce safety margins.
The Future
As a pilot, you must agree that your potential career has a foundation directly based upon the efforts of the Association and its members over many years. The Association has been ready to negotiate throughout this dispute with no preconditions, and we suspended Limited Industrial Action on 18th October 2001 to facilitate the process. We will not, however, accept any pre-conditions placed upon us by management, who are currently insisting that IFALPA lifts the Recruitment Ban. We have explained to both the Chairman and his Deputy that the Recruitment Ban can be lifted as soon as negotiations proceed but they have declined these offers. Consequently, they are imposing upon you the consequences of your choice to enter Cathay Pacific Airways. Should you have any questions, please contact me.
Yours sincerely
Clive Handley
Assistant General Secretary

 

[Tref]

Excellent post!

 

[Jolly Roger]

It really is sad that the current and ongoing state of affairs has come to this at Cathay. Where else can one go to get behind the right seat controls of a new 747-400, and make over 70k a year salary the first day on the job (joining as an American based direct entry F/O, which enters under the lowest payscale of all with the ability to transfer scales within 3 years) ?

To be fair there are many positive aspects to a job at Cathay- great A/C, Crew, time off (in the right fleet), and even pay. In fact many of the negative aspects of the job really aren't bad at all, it's just that the typical crewmember eventually does a great job of getting caught up in all the hype, and soon finds himself worked into a negative frenzy that is contagious. I think most of these folks have no idea how good they have it.

Having said that I do think the management at CX is a dangerous crowd, and the crew in need of protection from further erosion of working conditions, etc.

The bottom line is this: I believe that in the absence of the ban Cathay is a wonderful job (notice I did not say career) worth pursuing if the opportunity presents. Unfortunately, with this ban in place anyone joining now risks not only further employment stateside, but a very difficult road within the company. In the best of times a job at Cathay is never a secure thing and joining now would only present one with a precarious job at best with no safety net with a fall.