Airline AME PayScale

[bombardierfixer]

About half of the AMEs at WJ are at the top of the band, and roughly 50% of them are topped out ACA. Not that you can count on it by any stretch but profit share paid out 35,000,000 million ish this time around which grossed most guys around 5000.00 ish.

[NeverBlue]

[quoteMy apologies for this post to Neverblue and any others that thought we were among the elite Canadian salary earners][/quote]

I never said any such thing.

All I did was post the results as I put them in the calculator.

I don't care who it includes Stumper.

My point all along is that the wages Encore is paying are not poverty wages!...they are not fantastic...but they are not bad.

A lot of people on this forum seem to think we need to be paid what Lawyers and Doctors are paid...

Here's another link to some average wage info http://www.livingin-canada.com/work-sal ... anada.html


You can believe whatever you want "Doubting Thomas"...I mean Stumper...I don't write these things.

[fixnfly]

All I did was post the results as I put them in the calculator.

I don't care who it includes Stumper.

My point all along is that the wages Encore is paying are not poverty wages!...they are not fantastic...but they are not bad.

A lot of people on this forum seem to think we need to be paid what Lawyers and Doctors are paid...

Here's another link to some average wage info http://www.livingin-canada.com/work-sal ... anada.html


You can believe whatever you want "Doubting Thomas"...I mean Stumper...I don't write these things.

+1

[Stumper]

You seriously still can't figure out that your source is talking about something completely unrelated to salaries Neverblue? Reading comprehension not your thing? Please tell me you are not a licensed AME releasing aircraft..

[Stumper]

Pay and Go to college, work up north in the middle of nowhere for several years building experience and putting in your license hours and maybe, just maybe one day you will get the shot to work midnight's at Westjet for just above poverty wages...

Dare to dream kids

[chowda]

All I did was post the results as I put them in the calculator.

I don't care who it includes Stumper.

My point all along is that the wages Encore is paying are not poverty wages!...they are not fantastic...but they are not bad.

A lot of people on this forum seem to think we need to be paid what Lawyers and Doctors are paid...

Here's another link to some average wage info http://www.livingin-canada.com/work-sal ... anada.html


You can believe whatever you want "Doubting Thomas"...I mean Stumper...I don't write these things.

+1

so its not that bad. why cant they fill the positions?

it s because it is a shit wage. period. take the macleans stats and stick them up your ass.
as for doctors wages sure, that would be fantastic but why is even a 100g a year in this business considered big money. oh i know why, its double the shitty average.

[azimuthaviation]

Pay and Go to college, work up north in the middle of nowhere for several years building experience and putting in your license hours and maybe, just maybe one day you will get the shot to work midnight's at Westjet for just above poverty wages...

Dare to dream kids

Why should Westjet subsidize yours or mine bad life decisions? If you think guys like us wasted our lives who do you think should have to pay?

so its not that bad. why cant they fill the positions?

it s because it is a shit wage.

Agreed. They are offering a low wage, even by industry standards, and no one is taking it. Supply and demand theory holds.

[NeverBlue]

Pay and Go to college, work up north in the middle of nowhere for several years building experience and putting in your license hours and maybe, just maybe one day you will get the shot to work midnight's at Westjet for just above poverty wages...

...you're so full of S#*T

[Stumper]

Love you too neverblue

[voodoomech]

Aerotech and Swanberg air maintenance before the operations all went tits up. ACA bonus on top of the AME scale and apprentice school accreditation counted towards the payscale too. Gives you an idea of where the average pay in alberta is right now.

[Pat Richard]

Nice. encore upper aca ame rate is that of senior apprentice 2 years ago.

I often wonder what sort of losers they have managed to get for that kind of money, but quite sure they're getting what they're paying for.

[trumpfan]

The Encore payscale is a bone of contention with mainline WJ AMEs as well. Mgmt is hoping to have Encore as a stepping stone to mainline AME jobs, a practice that IMHO is questionable. The talk is that unless there is special circumstances that all mainline hiring will come from Encore.

There are some monetary carrots for start up AMEs at Encore that are not available to mainline guys. There is no training bond for the 737 or Q4 as was mentioned here previously for obtaining your ACA.

As far as I know all of YYC's Encore positions have been filled, I know some of them personally and I believe they're a strong group.

[Pat Richard]

I know some of them personally and I believe they're a strong group.

if that's the case, it makes this scenario a whole lot worse in the fact they are paying what they are, and getting a decent quality AME.

Way to whore yourselves out and bring wage expectations even lower, encore dumbasses.

[trumpfan]

I don't agree with the wage but its a choice they made.

[NeverBlue]

Way to whore yourselves out and bring wage expectations even lower, encore dumbasses.

what a guy eh?

I don't agree with the wage but its a choice they made.

...and their choice to make regardless of what anyone thinks.

[trumpfan]

The likelyhood of the Encore AME wage coming up in the next year or so is almost certain, and like I said there is a bonus structure Outside of the WJ compensation norms for the start up guys.

As for Pat, guys who talk like that are seldom worth what they think they're worth.

[rubberboot]

don't get me wrong, i don't think we get paid enough for what we do, but there is a reason that it happens. the customer - you, me, everyone who flies is an @$$hole. think back to the last trip you flew on. did you look for the cheapest flight? bet you didn't look for the expensive flight. my wife found us a flight to florida for $400ish one way (total) for 4 people. great, she booked it. i told her she is the reason i don't get a raise. its the same as buying from Walmart - everytime you do, 1 Canadian or American in a factory just lost their job. if the consumer is offered a $500 fair on ABC airlines or $400 on DEF airlines, which one you think they will pick? and if DEF raises the fair, the consumer will look elsewhere. it sucks.

a lot of $$$ has to come out of that $400/seat on DEF airlines. wages for mechanics, flightcrews, CSR's, baggage handlers, reservation people, etc. and then there is the other overhead like counterspace, parts, offices... you get the idea. don't even get started on fuel costs. $400/ticket from YYZ to FLL is great for the customer, but crap for the airline. i hate to say it, but we customers won't allow the airlines to raise the fares where they should be. we like the low cost carrier. and with the legacy carriers struggling or reinventing themselves (aka rouge) to compete, it ain't going to get any better soon.

its no better for the contracted AMO, when you figure an AMO shop rate is around $70/hr, it doesnt leave much room to survive

if you breakdown the $70/hr

$35/hr for the mechanic
$10/hr for benifits and or government stuff
$10/hr for equipment/overhead (vans/maintenance, office supplies, office rent, etc)
$5/hr for non billible staff (clerks, office admin, accountant)
so a tidy $10 profit margin. now if the AMO wants to raise his rates to $75/hr, there is always someone that will do it for $70. worse yet, the airline will (and they should) get bids from a few AMO's and let the lowest win.

i think our downfall happened when the US dollar tanked. when a CAD was worth about 0.64USD, that was great. we could entice american operators to send their aircraft here $60-70 CAD equalled about 40-45 USD. now it is par.

i am not justifying anything, and i know my numbers are ballpark numbers. i also know that some of the reason we have the wage we have is to "maximize shareholder value".

unfortunately, i can't see this getting any better in the near future either.

obviously this is only my opinion, so its your choice whether you agree or not...

[robertw]

Way to whore yourselves out and bring wage expectations even lower, encore dumbasses.

what a guy eh?

I don't agree with the wage but its a choice they made.

...and their choice to make regardless of what anyone thinks.

+1 to that.

If it came to a choice between putting food on the table for my wife and kids with a job from Encore or refusing to work for them because it's not the ideal wage, I would certainly take it and not become a martyr on the altar of idealist AME wages. As NeverBlue said, it's their choice to make.

[helicopterray]

I do find it disturbing that someone would denigrate a person for wanting to provide for their family. It may not be the money you want, or think you deserve, but it's better than being unemployed.

[KISS_MY_TCAS]

If it came down to feeding my family, in YYC I would return to construction before settling for an industry-wide embarrassing wage. No night shifts, better pay, but I could tell the guys on site cool airplane stories.Living in Calgary during college I got a job kicking carpet for a percentage of the contract. Not counting inflation, it took me 8 years to make more money in aviation than it did doing grunt carpet work. A college classmate of mine met my contractor and makes WAY more money than I ever will in aviation installing hardwood, M-F, 8-5. If I was unemployed in YYC and looking at encores wage, I would walk away for better money and hours in an unskilled trade, simple. Aviation is not a skilled trade so its an easy transition.You guys keep beating your dicks over being guys that touch airplanes, there's nothing cool in it anymore. So many other industries pay so much better for far less with no education or liability. Companies like encore only exist to reaffirm the industry is a joke, and there is a lineup around the block of people willing to tank the industry because they are too proud to turn a cheek because they spent that much money and time on college and licensing. You can make more money and work better hours with no education than you can with Encore, or countless other operators in Canada. Quit ruining it for everyone. As far as I'm concerned, every single AME hired at Encore should be looking at their shoes and embarrassed when talking with any other AME, anywhere. The starting wage for an AME is what I earned as a fresh license without ACAs 10 years ago. In fact, we pay non ACA'd AMEs $5/hr more on 703/704 machines than Encore does, and also have a profit sharing program and group RRSP but from experience airline guys are best suited as chocks on the ramp anyway, they are box-swappers not legitimate or knowledgeable troubleshooters. Such a progressive industry....

[chowda]

Big plus one. Its pathetic the obvious has to be explained to them. Apparently all a starving ame can do is accept lower and lower wages just so they can keep working on airplanes. Nobody finds that disturbing or more obviously just stupid?

Im reading this while socializing with some other trades people. They are a bit shocked when they saw what sort of money encore is paying and mechanics actually defending it. Now they are laughing. Pretty embarassing.

[NeverBlue]

It's like talking to a wall.

If I had a choice I would not work for Encore Wages alone.

But if I didn't have a choice...I wouldn't give a crap what anyone thought of me taking the job! Ever!

I do find it disturbing that someone would denigrate a person for wanting to provide for their family. It may not be the money you want, or think you deserve, but it's better than being unemployed.

+1

..I mean who do they think they are anyways?

[chowda]

So encore mechs had no choice so thats why they are there?

The point tcas and others make is there is or should be a choice when all you are being offered is shit and that by not doing that they are dragging the rest of the trade down with them. you dont think other companies are watching them and saying "well there finding guys for peanuts lets try the same". The fact that you and others defend them as exercising freedom of personal choice is ludicrous and to me is much more disturbing than richard calling them whores

[NeverBlue]

they are dragging the rest of the trade down with them. you dont think other companies are watching them and saying "well there finding guys for peanuts lets try the same".

...sure...that's what "they're" doing.


If you have S#!t for workers...you have a S#!t company.
Airplanes don't fly if they don't work because the S#!t can't fix them.

...and the little old unemployed AME controls it all!!!

[NeverBlue]

there is or should be a choice when all you are being offered is shit

...Well BOO HOO HOO!