Flight attendants from Hong Kong’s flagship airline, Cathay Pacific, yesterday threatened a summer strike if management does not scrap a new policy that reduces salaries and perks for cabin crew.
The warning came after a two-day sit-in held by flight attendants inside Terminal 1 of Hong Kong International Airport.
The protest failed to win concessions.
Photo: EPA
“If... [chief executive Ivan] Chu [朱國樑] decides not respond, we have no other choice than to start promoting the strike,” Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union head Dora Lai (黎玉嬋) said at the airline’s headquarters.
About 200 cabin crew who had been staging the airport sit-in gathered at the headquarters to continue their protest.
They chanted: “Respect the union” and held up signs reading: “No more cut, cut, cut,” and “Cathay Pacific cabin crew strike.”
Lai said the union would mobilize its 6,400 members to strike for at least two weeks starting on Aug. 18 if the company did not respond to their demands.
The protests began on Tuesday in response to cuts made by the airline.
Under the new rules, cabin crew who joined the airline after April 16 would see their hourly wage rise to just HK$159.40 (US$20.56) after their first three years with the company, down from HK$176.80 for those who signed contracts before April 2.
The union is also protesting over cuts to lunch allowances for attendants flying through Melbourne, Australia, and a legal protection clause which it says the airline has deleted from its operational manual.
The clause says Cathay would cover legal costs resulting from any incident that occurs while cabin crew are on duty, according to the union.
Lai said that they were still hoping to talk with Chu and avert the strike.
“We just want to have our company give us what we had before,” she said.
The airline said it was prepared to meet with the union, but that a meeting would take time to arrange.
“We just received the invitation; we probably have to check the schedule,” airline general manager of cabin crew Maggie Yeung (楊詠儀) said. “The company is confident that our staff will put passengers first, whatever they do. We will keep close dialogue and hope to solve the problems quickly without affecting our customers.”
In December last year, the airline’s pilots’ union said nearly 2,000 of its members were starting work-to-rule action — working only their contractual hours — after long-running talks over pay and working hours broke down.
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