Two articles from today's SCMP by Simon Parry
Cathay Pacific is offering payouts of about $1 million or the chance to reapply for jobs to pilots sacked during a 2001 industrial dispute - if they agree to drop legal action against the airline.
The offer of an out-of-court settlement to the group known as the "49ers" is the first of its kind in the bitter 3-1/2-year dispute and is being recommended to pilots by the Aircrew Officers Association, which negotiated the deal.
If it is accepted, the sacked pilots can either take a 10-month payout or an interview for a job as freighter pilots with Cathay, positions junior to those they previously held.
Any 49er who applies for a job will be subjected to psychological testing - a step proposed by the association - to make sure they do not hold a lasting grudge against the airline.
Fifty-one pilots were sacked by Cathay in July 2001, at the height of a dispute over pay and rosters which resulted in a work-to-rule campaign by association members. They are named for the 49 dismissed in one mass sacking.
Legal proceedings have been taken out against Cathay by sacked pilots in the US, Australia, Britain and Hong Kong, and the offer to pilots is conditional on the actions being dropped.
The 1,000-member Aircrew Officers Association, which has supported the 49ers financially and funded their lawsuits, is due to decide at an extraordinary general meeting on February 15 whether to approve Cathay's offer.
The offer has opened a heated debate within the association and among the 49ers over whether it should be accepted or whether the pilots should continue fighting their cases through the courts.
The five plaintiffs in the Australian case have written to association members, saying: "We beg you to continue to support our legal cases until we have a reasonable offer formally made to us or have our day in court."
One of the 49ers, Canada-based Steve Urquhart, 36, said he wanted to accept the offer and return to Hong Kong. "We could be bitter for the rest of our lives but I would rather put it behind me and go back to work," he said. "Hopefully in five years it will all be ancient history."
Association president Murray Gardner, recommending the offer to members, said: "This has been a difficult period in the history of industrial relations between the association and the management of Cathay Pacific.
"However, relations have improved markedly in the past two years and the priority of both parties now is to further improve the relationship, to help the airline grow and prosper and to safeguard the best interests of everyone."
Cathay's director of flight operations Nick Rhodes said Cathay's offer was a "full and final" one and if it was rejected the matter would be sorted out in the courts.
"There comes a time in any dispute when you have to move forward," he said. "We are very pleased the association is now run by a business-minded committee."
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Cathay Pacific pilots are each paying thousands of dollars a month to support the 49ers in what is believed to be the longest and most expensive dispute for aviation union members anywhere in the world.
Dues were raised from the usual level of 1 per cent of salaries to 5 per cent at the peak of the dispute over the 2001 dismissal of pilots. As more of the 49ers found work and needed less support, that level was reduced to 4 per cent and then 3 per cent, but it still amounts to about $4,000 a month for a senior captain.
The burden of paying the legal fees has made it one of the most expensive unions in the world and, not surprisingly, membership has fallen from more than 1,300 before the 2001 dispute to less than 1,000 today.
However, union insiders say that the members now left are committed to the association and its causes. "The guys that are left are 49er supporters," one long-serving member said.
"They understand the issues and understand we need to ensure fair treatment for the 49ers. They have been paying to support the 49ers for 1,300 days now and they are prepared to continue paying if they have to."
Another senior member agreed the debate over the settlement offer had been "divisive and emotive", but said whatever the outcome of the vote, the association and its leadership would remain united. "We've been through too much together to come apart over this."