WestJet Pay...

[TAT]

Can anyone list a brief payscale ??

[Snow Monkey]

FO salary

40K 1st yr
50k 2nd yr
53k 3rd
56 4th
59 5th

Before deductions and whatever contibutions you decide on for the employee share purchase plan. Salary may change soon as a new pilots agreement is being worked on.

[2low]

You could check out the new hire McDonalds website...it would be about the same.

[windshear]

Check out http://www.airlinepilotpay.com

[twinpratts]

Isn't the new one due to come out soon?

[Blastor]

Shitty

[TAT]

Thanks snowmonkey...

[Canus Chinookus]

so what's a first year pilot at AC making? 34? 36?

[metal overcast]

At AC it is 38 and Jazz it is 34.7.

[monkeyspankmasterflex]

TAT...from another thread:

OK Jacques, here we go again and hopefully for the last time. That is until the new contract for pilots is finished...

Anyway, for now, it works like this:

Day 1- At your date of hire, FNG's get $450 every week until the first one in your class finishes their ride then everybody gets upped.

Day 2- Options. Pilots have the right to buy or sell or wave anytime between 2007 and 2009 the chunk of shares that they were "given" in 2005. Then every year, we'll be alloted a number of shares with a 2-year maturity and a 2-year vesting period. In 2006, we'll get options for 2008-2010, etc etc. It's free money or it's nothing. For pilots and management.

Day 40 (approximate)- Once that first ride is done, we get $40,000 per year paid every two weeks. It works out to $1538.46 gross/pay period as I look at my paystub. Plus perdiems which are of course tax free. I happen to volunteer for OT (put myself on reserve to you) so I usually bring home a little extra. OT is paid at the hourly rate X 1.5 to a minimum of 4.5 hours/day. My hourly rate is $41.67 [$40,000 divided by 960 hours/year (80 hours/month X 12 months)] so multiply that by 1.5 = $62.50/hour on OT once I crack that 80 hour/month mark that you gotta do. For example, let's say I was blocked to say 76 hours and did two days of OT worth 9 hours. Here's the complicated arithmetic: 76+9=85, 85-80=5 so I would get 5 hours at $62.50. Next year, it'll be $52.08 regular and $78.12 OT. I don't think that it's all that complicated as I've done the credit system where you got 1 hour of pay for every three hours if you were holding, 1 hour pay for every 2.5 hours block duty if you were deadheading bla bla bla and all that other shit before. That was a nightmare.

Day 90- Can, if one chooses, begin contributing to the Employee Share Purchase Plan. I went all-in with 20% non-registered or "cash" as some call it. This means that 20% comes right off the top of the $40,000. 20% of $1538 every two weeks is $307, company matches it so every two weeks I put $614 into trust. That trust (CIBC Mellon) takes everybodies money that's contributing including mine and buys stock in WJA on the open market in the last 3 days of the month. The share price is averaged over those three days and divided into the individual accounts accordingly. This means that at the end of October, I got $1228 worth of WJA @ $10.28/share (not bad now that they're at $11.91). And I only paid $614.00. In September, we had three pay periods (and will again in March) so I put in $1842.00 and got 165 shares at $11.15 and only paid $921.00. Are you still with me? All this money that I'm piling in sits in the trust for one year which means that I don't have access to 'em until September 1 '06. At that time, I can get at the shares that were purchased in August '05 when I first started my stockpile. Every month, more and more roll out and become available. I can sit on 'em or diversify. If I had chosen to register the shares that I bought under an RRSP, then I would have gained a tax advantage albeit short term in my two week pay. I don't know how much. I can change how much I choose to contribute as well from 0%-20%, some registered, some not, again if I choose. For me, because I'm all in 20% cash, my two week take home is $685 to $706. If I wasn't contributing, it would be more like $1050. That $1050 is not as simple as adding the $685 to the $307 as I get taxed on what the company contributes to the ESPP. In other words, I'm getting taxed on $48,000/year not $40,000 so it puts me into a higher tax rate. Bottom line is that my bring home net monthly pay averaged over the course of the year as a first year FNG F/O with full 20% ESPP is roughly $1500 plus perdiems ($400-$500/month). If I wasn't contributing, it would be roughly $2300. All employees get the ESPP if they choose.

Day 180 (approximate)- Profit Share. Coming next week (Nov. 24), it's a cash bonus for all employees. Not sure how much is coming but every 6 months so long as there's profit, Westjetters all get a cheque.

Day 359- In 7 months from date of hire at WestJet, I had earned $24,850 including OT and ESPP contributions (which are still in trust). Over the course of the year, assuming all else stays the same, my T4 will say $42,600 of which approximately $11,700 is WJA stock plus next weeks profit share cheque and plus another $4800 in perdiems. With perdiems, you're looking at about $48,000 in the first year plus the options which I have until 2009 to do something about.

Day 360- Raise to $50,000/year. Notice that the second year raise does not coincide with when I started getting $40,000/year which was about day 40 from date of hire after the training and the ride. So I'll actually only get $40,000/year for 325 days. ESPP goes up accordingly and another batch of options to consider. I estimate that my bring home net monthly pay averaged over the course of the year as a second-year F/O with full 20% ESPP will be roughly $1800. If I wasn't contributing, it would be roughly $2750.

Day 480- ESPP shares start rolling out of trust and into my bank. 4 times per year, I can go to that well and draw out what's available to do with as I please. The shares are mine as the tax to acquire them has been paid. I only pay a capital gains tax if the shares go up in price which is far lower than income tax.

And from there, it only goes up exponentially even with a flat stock price. The amount of ESPP contributed can go up as well as the option grant. It's a multi-year compensation package that is difficult to look at one year at a time. You can rest assured that nobody at WestJet wants to lower any standard of pay. That's left to CJ. In fact, the system is designed to make the pilots quite wealthy. Minimize tax, maximize income.

Non-monetary items:

We've got all that other stuff too like benefits and interline agreements. We generally get good schedules and 15-16 days off/month. I've had 18 some months and 14 in others. I get to fly with some great people front and back and the Boeing 737NG is an awesome machine. I got no complaints except for Toronto but that's another story.

I agree that the compensation at WestJet is non-standard; too complicated for many to grasp I suppose and thus the misunderstandings and confusion. It's easy for those two former AC'ers that are now back home to say that they were getting $650 every two weeks ($685 actually) but it's not the whole story. Thank you for asking the question and getting informed.

[monkeyspankmasterflex]

DP

[yyc757]

The bottom line is both wj AND ac should have higher starting wages. I hope you guys at wj get a respectful pay raise. You are professionals. You deserve it!

[Flightlevels]

I for one am amazed at what we received today!! time will tell what the others think. GJ WJ and the negotiating team!

[WF9F]

Heard some of the details from a buddy at WJ and it sounded pretty good.Congrats.What was offered for right seaters?
I hope we can get our sh$t together here at AC and fix some issues.

Again, good for you guys.

[KAG]

what is the new starting wage at WJ for first year FO's?

[metal overcast]

I believe the starting wage is the same for the first year and the only changes begin at year two.

[Flightlevels]

Not quite Metal, it was a misconception...you can go that route but if you choose less options as low as 25% of the original grant, than you can go much higher for a base pay. Depends on the individual. Nonetheless it has to be accepted and understood first by all. Maybe even Blastor will work on some more time to get flying here now...lol.

[WJ700]

what is the new starting wage at WJ for first year FO's?

It doesn't look to be like much but not bad for year three. Hourly, Year 1 is $41.67 plus flat $5000 per year options. Year 2 is 52.08 plus $5000.00 and then Year three is $78.40 per hour based on thebase pay pluss 75% cash for options, plus the other stuff I'm sure you've heard about before. It graduates up to $88.85 per hour for FO's. Blcoking window is now between 80-85 hours with the max work days per month reducing over the term of the contract (3 years). There are different scales depending on how much risk you want to take for options.

It's all tentative and needs to be voted in by the end of Feb,

[HarkMill]

You are talking about a 60% raise across the board for F/O's. Is this true? As a WJA shareholder I am flabergasted!!!

Is there a 60% raise for Captains as well?

What you are saying is that WJA costs will increase by a minimum of $25,000,000 dollars overnight! Yes MILLION!

I can't imagine any pilot opting for worthless stock options and forego a 60% raise.

WTF Over?

If these numbers are for real I will personally short my entire holdings of WJA stock immediately.

Please confirm!!!

[double-j]

You are talking about a 60% raise across the board for F/O's. Is this true? As a WJA shareholder I am flabergasted!!!

Is there a 60% raise for Captains as well?

What you are saying is that WJA costs will increase by a minimum of $25,000,000 dollars overnight! Yes MILLION!

I can't imagine any pilot opting for worthless stock options and forego a 60% raise.

WTF Over?

If these numbers are for real I will personally short my entire holdings of WJA stock immediately.

Please confirm!!!

I doubt you hold any WJ shares...methinks you are just a troll.

HOLY @#$!! you AC guys complain about our low salaries, now complain about this....worry about your your own house k?

jj