Latest from Reuters.
HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Pilots and cabin crew at Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways described a “white terror” of political denunciations, sackings and phone searches by Chinese aviation officials amid anti-government protests gripping the former British colony.
Cathay, founded by an American and an Australian during British rule in 1946, was caught in the middle of the crisis 11 days ago, when China demanded it suspend staff involved in the protest movement.
The firm agreed, firing two pilots, but has since been plunged into turmoil after CEO Rupert Hogg was replaced last week.
Another pilot, Jeremy Tam, who is also a pro-democracy lawmaker, said on Tuesday that he and others had quit the airline as the internal political pressure was intolerable.
“That (China’s aviation regulator) has reached into Hong Kong and directly pressured a local airline is undoubtedly ‘white terror’,” he wrote on his Facebook page, using a popular Hong Kong expression used to describe anonymous acts that create a climate of fear.
“There have been resignations from frontline staff to the company’s CEO because of this political trial.”
The airline confirmed Tam was no longer an employee and said it could not comment on internal staff matters. China’s aviation regulator has not responded to Reuters’ requests for comment.
CEO Hogg’s surprise exit sent a chill through the company of 27,000, according to Reuters interviews with eight staff members, as well as posts on two unauthorized but popular staff-only Facebook pages that illustrate the pressure on workers.
“There is a ‘white terror’ in our company,” one crew member at Cathay’s regional subsidiary, Cathay Dragon, told Reuters at a railway station on her way home. “We feel really scared to talk political stuff, even for chit-chat.
“Some of the pro-Beijing people set up a Telegram group and post our personal information, like our addresses, phone numbers, if they discover that we support the movement on our own social media,” she added, referring to use of the messenger app Telegram by both Cathay insiders and others who do not support the protests.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKCN1VA13Y