Assistant Dispatcher at Hawaiian
- Thread starter Salkadi
- Start date
MAK49
Well-Known Member
Well, from your name, I'm assuming you're not a dispatcher anymore...but for what it's worth, some people can manage, some can't. I've known of pilots living off of a first officer pay on Oahu. Are you going to live in a good part of town? Probably not. Are you going to be paying way too much for such little space? Probably. Can you live off of ramen noodles and rice? Some can, some can't. If you think you can't or other people can't, well, that's your opinion, and you're obviously welcome to it. But not everyone sees it the way you do, some people see it as an opportunity to work in the industry, and they'll go wherever they can.
The issue at heart is. Why are DXers settling for less wages than 10 years ago. When do you stand up and ask for your fair share of the profit margins, the CEO has no problem taking his. The real issues is the poor unions that represent us. I once applied for a DX job at USAir. When I submitted my app and interviewed the annual salary was $48K. It took them several months to do the second interview however I was told leaving the first that I should just be prepared to bring all my docs with me as they were satisfied in the hour long interview enough to hire me then.
Well it took 5 months for them to email me back with an offer letter and a asking me to set up a time to fly back and complete the hiring process. I was excited to say the least, UNTIL I saw the salary. In the 5 months the union and management came to an agreement and the salary was reduced to $34K. I reminded them that I was quoted 48k if I interviewed when I did. The HR rep said sorry but we can not honor that because our profits are down, however the CEO and executive management got nice increases. I had to turn it down. After I paid moving expenses my first year wages would have been 28k.
A friend that worked in SOC told me that I would be able to bridge the income gap by picking up extra days and doing some unscheduled overtime hours at the end of my shift and BTW I was only going to work 72 hour per pay period. I respectfully told him that I was not going to work extra days because the UNION FAILED to negotiate a fair and decent contract. A complete cave in failure on the unions behalf.
The least they could have done was to pay my moving expenses, at least that would have shown a commitment on their behalf.
Well it took 5 months for them to email me back with an offer letter and a asking me to set up a time to fly back and complete the hiring process. I was excited to say the least, UNTIL I saw the salary. In the 5 months the union and management came to an agreement and the salary was reduced to $34K. I reminded them that I was quoted 48k if I interviewed when I did. The HR rep said sorry but we can not honor that because our profits are down, however the CEO and executive management got nice increases. I had to turn it down. After I paid moving expenses my first year wages would have been 28k.
A friend that worked in SOC told me that I would be able to bridge the income gap by picking up extra days and doing some unscheduled overtime hours at the end of my shift and BTW I was only going to work 72 hour per pay period. I respectfully told him that I was not going to work extra days because the UNION FAILED to negotiate a fair and decent contract. A complete cave in failure on the unions behalf.
The least they could have done was to pay my moving expenses, at least that would have shown a commitment on their behalf.
Flagship_dxer
Penske Material
ExDxer, I tend to agree with you. A substantial number of dispatchers basically live at the office. They pick up so much OT that at times they max out the legal amount of days a dispatcher can work. Dispatchers should have time to live their life and not let their job define their life.
The real dangerous thing though is not the pay but the workload. Dispatchers have a job that entails a legal responsibility to operate our company's flights in a safe manner and to maintain operational control through flight following. Yet dispatchers accept desks with forty to ninety flights per shift domestically and ten to twenty on international desks per shift. At many dispatch offices, flight following is basically non existent. Dispatchers are merely flight planners sending out releases and flight plans. No dispatcher should have more than twenty-five to thirty flights per shift domestically and five to eight flights internationally.
Dispatchers release and flight follow so many flights that it has a negative effect on the service we provide to the airline and pilots. Even the best dispatchers struggle to find time to thoroughly read NOTAMs, keep up with and send weather updates to crews, verify the position of their flights and make sure times are getting recorded, and properly apply and understand the MELs they are responsible for.
The real dangerous thing though is not the pay but the workload. Dispatchers have a job that entails a legal responsibility to operate our company's flights in a safe manner and to maintain operational control through flight following. Yet dispatchers accept desks with forty to ninety flights per shift domestically and ten to twenty on international desks per shift. At many dispatch offices, flight following is basically non existent. Dispatchers are merely flight planners sending out releases and flight plans. No dispatcher should have more than twenty-five to thirty flights per shift domestically and five to eight flights internationally.
Dispatchers release and flight follow so many flights that it has a negative effect on the service we provide to the airline and pilots. Even the best dispatchers struggle to find time to thoroughly read NOTAMs, keep up with and send weather updates to crews, verify the position of their flights and make sure times are getting recorded, and properly apply and understand the MELs they are responsible for.