My talk with Chief Steward

I had an interesting conversation with I think the Chief Steward. I am not familiar with the colour coding of SQ uniforms. He wears a grey jacket. From his demeanor, I guess he is senior in rank.

The facts of some of Boh Tong articles were verified. The SVP who have to leave SQ after 35 years due to disagreement with the top mgt. The promotion exercise is highly dependent on the interview whereas before Seniority rules. The position of CCE was eliminated. Weight of cabin crews are monitored - male and female, no sex discrimination here.

I like to share his perspective. It is actually harder for a male crew to get promoted. Turnover for male cabin crews is low. As turnover for female is higher, the chance of getting promoted is much higher. I asked why CCE were "retrenched" rather than offer other jobs in SQ or work as cabin crews. He has quite sound reasoning. CCEs do not have the skills for the office e.g. accounting or IT. CCEs are extremely well-paid. So it will be a demotion to be Crew Chief. The job has also changed. Before all the travellers were well-off. Today, the range of different type of passengers is a lot broader, hence more complex. Crew Chief has to also service passengers nowadays. Historically, Crew Chief just supervises and do not have to perform the duties personally. It will be difficult for them to adapt.

As for the group that train Emirates, he expects the contract ended in a year or two. After that the group has to look for smaller airlines to sell their service. He also felt that the trainers may not be so successful in training crews with more international mix. They are successful in SQ because the majority of the crews are Singaporeans or Malaysia. Culturally, we are aligned and accept the trainers instructions. Whereas foreign crews are professionals and get their job done but will not do more than their scope.

I learn a lot from him!