Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (國泰航空), Hong Kong’s biggest carrier, yesterday began pay talks with pilots who have voted for possible industrial action as they seek raises.
The discussions are expected to last five days, Carolyn Leung (梁月芳), a Cathay spokeswoman said by telephone on Sunday. She didn’t say how much the pilots were seeking.
The union wants raises of more than 30 percent over the next four years and they could take action that would disrupt flights over the Christmas period, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday. Union members last month voted to allow leaders to possibly recommend shunning overtime, while rejecting calls for such action to start on Dec. 1.
“It’s a cost increase that the airline should be able to absorb rather than having to face any possible disruptions,” said K. Ajith, an analyst at UOB-Kay Hian Research Pte in Singapore. “I would expect the airline to come to some compromise in the negotiations.”
Ajith expects the airline’s staffing costs to rise about 14.5 percent next year, he said. Last month, the carrier announced it will give Hong Kong-based staff annual pay raises averaging 4 percent and 4.5 percent. Staff will also receive a 13th month bonus payment and a profit-share pay-out.
Cathay’s incoming chief executive John Slosar said last Tuesday he was optimistic the airline would reach an agreement with the pilots.
“We are looking forward to constructive negotiations and a mutually acceptable agreement,” John Findlay, assistant general secretary of the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association, said yesterday by e-mail.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy