MUST KNOW FOR PROSPECTIVE DRAGONAIR PILOTS - the Standard Contract


Effective from 1 April 2012, all pilots recruited by Dragonair will be employed on
the Standard Conditions of Service (CoS) regardless of background or experience.
The Standard COS was unilaterally introduced by the company, without input and
consultation with the Dragonair Pilots Association (DPA). 

The Standard CoS is an inferior contract compared to the Expatriate B Scale that all
previous pilots recruited from overseas were offered.  Cadet entry and Local
citizens are employed on a 'Local' CoS, which is at a lower total remuneration than
the Standard CoS and Expatriate CoS.

Standard CoS Details

The Standard CoS is made up of three parts;

1.  Part 1 - contains Contractual Agreements that may affect your condition of
service and which can only be changed with your consent,

2.  Part 2 - contains Company Policies that is written for your information only.
It does not confer contractual rights to you and may be unilaterally amended by the
company at it's sole discretion, and

3.  Part 3 - These policies may only be amended by mutual agreement between the DPA
and Dragonair.

Benefits and provisions which may affect you, such as Credit Hour Provisions, Child
Education Allowance Policy and Medical Benefits are now in Part 2, which means they
can be amended unilaterally if and when the company sees fit. 

Importantly your credit hours before overtime could be amended from 75 per month (as
currently set) to a higher level without your approval, or a salary increase.
Housing and Education are very expensive in Hong Kong.   Spaces for International
schools are limited and may require up front debentures to  secure a space.  Some of
these debentures are non refundable.  For example the English Schools Foundation
(ESF) school fees for the 2011/2012 academic year are as follows:

Primary
Secondary
HK$63000

Year 7-11
HK$95100

Year 12-13
HK$97100

International Kindergartens and Private Independent Schools.

       International Kindergartens
       Discovery College
      Renaissance College

·          New students are required to pay both deposit and refundable
capital levy (RCL) when a place in school is accepted.  Payment details
can be found on ESF enrolment form.

·          The amount of deposit for a primary and secondary school place
are HK$10,000 and HK$16,000 respectively.   Refundable capital levy is
HK$25,000 per student and the levy for the third and any subsequent child
in a family attending ESF School is reduced to HK$10,000.

·          Both deposit and RCL payments are required when students
transfer from an ESF primary school to an ESF secondary school.  If RCL
has already been paid when the student enrolled to ESF primary school, the
student is not required to pay RCL again when he transfers from ESF
primary school to ESF secondary school

·          Students who would like to reserve school places for the
following school year are required to make an advance payment of
September’s fees as surety. As the RCL is phased in, parents who have paid
RCL will not be required to make advance payment of September’s fees.
 

Conclusion

All currently employed pilots were given the opportunity to sign over to the
Standard CoS.  The overwhelming majority of the pilots employed on the Local CoS did
not switch over to this Standard CoS, albeit the Standard Cos providing provision
for certain increases to the Local CoS.

The Standard CoS is about 40% below the Expatriate CoS.