Cathay to pay 3,300 staff retroactive rises
Cathay Pacific Airways has bowed to a court ruling and agreed to grant pay rises retroactive to 1999 to 3,300 flight attendants.
It unilaterally canceled the rises during the Asian financial crisis.
Airline spokeswoman Carolyn Leung said the total amount is still being calculated, though local media have said it will be at least HK$280 million.
She refused to say whether the compensation will be reported as an extraordinary item in its interim results.
She said the money will be paid at the end of this month. Cathay decided not to appeal against last month's ruling by the Court of First Instance, which held that the airline had breached employment contracts.
``It is in everyone's interest that we now put the issue behind us in order that we can move forward together to grow Cathay Pacific into a stronger airline,'' Leung said.
Paying up should be no problem.
In its final results for last year, the airline said it had liquid funds of HK$11.47 billion at the end of the year.
In 1999, Cathay unilaterally terminated the automatic promotion and pay rise system for staff, citing pressures brought on by the Asian financial crisis, which sharply curtailed air travel in the region.
The Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union brought a lawsuit against it as a result.
In a city with little history of labor militancy over the past 30 years, Cathay's strained staff relations stand out.
Flight attendants went on strike for 27 days in 1993 to protest against the dismissal of three colleagues in an earlier job action against increases to their workload.
In 1998, pilots went on strike for 15 days over wage and rostering issues. After 51 pilots were fired in 2001, their colleagues staged several work-to-rule campaigns in a vain effort to win their reinstatement.
The case is still unsettled.
Cathay has offered each sacked pilot 10 months' salary worth about HK$1 million, or the chance to apply for a job as a freighter pilot with the airline, in return for dropping their suit alleging unlawful dismissal. In February, the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association voted narrowly to reject the offer.
Cathay shares ended 1.36 percent down at HK$14.50 on Friday.