Hi guys. Following a couple of recent encounters on here, I now restrict myself to posting only on the ‘civvy photos’ section, but a friend who is a regular ‘reader’ saw ATR72s thread, and Newforests kind comment, along, the lines that I might have some valid observations.
atr42 hit the nail on the head, by saying that Menzies shouldn’t perhaps be singled out. Back in the early 80s, I gave up a very good job in construction to get into aviation. My first post meant leaving my cosy home with my parents, in the southeast of England, and moving to Aberdeen. I then endured 2 years of permanent night shifts, in the flight operations dept, of a now long gone Scottish airline, but I wanted that job, so I didn’t care. I left that permanent post years before that carrier went under, and returned to my home turf. I took a summer season post with a handling agent, as a Traffic Officer, and fortunately, one of the permanent guys left, and I got his job. My wages went up sharply as a result, to around £15k per year, that was with a little overtime, and we are talking 1982 here. I worked my way up to Station Duty officer with them before moving on to other aviation posts. The last post that I held, until the end of last year, payed a salary of around £38k, which included various allowances including travel expenses, and the bonuses were not bad either!.
In many ways, your friend seems to be at the same crossroads that I was at those many moons ago. The major difference of course, is that the industry has changed beyond all recognition, not only for the airlines themselves, but also for the ground handling and other ancillary companies. He could take the gamble, as I did, and risk going on a temporary contract, with all the benefits that they now DONT have, or staying put. I understand that permanent contracts are pretty scarce, except for fairly senior posts. In one of the handling agencies that I worked with, the term ‘Ramp Agent’ referred to staff who loaded baggage and cargo, and performed the pushbacks and other ramp related tasks as required, they worked bloody hard for their money, is this the type of work he’s looking for?. I believe that today, the term can also be used for what used to be called Traffic Officers, ie: load control, and supervision of turnrounds, pax boarding etc. A friend of mine works for part of the Menzies empire, on a temporary contract, in the field of looking after passengers with special needs. For this he earns a few quid above national minimum wage, has no sick pay and minimal leave entitlement. This is a guy who spent many years in a senior position, in the cargo department of an airline, but he loves planes, and can’t think of a working life away from the airport. Lucky for him I guess, that his wife has a good non aviation job.
Today, my friend, aviation work is a gamble, but then again, perhaps it always was. If your friend wants the job as much as I did, then maybe the risk might be worth taking. Would I take the same gamble today?, you know, I think I might, but perhaps he should try doing it before he gets a mortgage, and other heavy financial obligations, its easier on the nervous system! Well, thats my ‘two penneth’, hope it isn’t too rambling, and that it is of some use.:)
Neil. IF62M
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