Letter from a 49'r
Fellow professional pilots:
The International Federation of Allied Pilots Association (IFALPA) has placed a recruitment
ban on Cathay Pacific Airways. If you would be so kind as to spare me a few minutes
of your time, I would like to tell you a little about why that ban was put in place.
Between July 06 and July 12 of this year, Cathay Pacific "randomly" sacked 52 of
its aircrew. Hong Kong law states that no reason is required to sack an individual
if he is given sufficient notice or pay in lieu. I was one of those 52 and like
the others received absolutely no notice. The "random" dismissals included 5 out
of 20 Union committee members and 4 out of 7 negotiators. There was no link with
flying capability, as all had fine training records. Three of the sacked pilot's
spouses were pregnant. Most of the 52 have families and dependents to support.
One pilot was receiving cancer treatment and another treatment for a serious heart
condition at the time of his termination.
The dismissals were meant to send a strong signal to the union to back off of its
negotiation requests and industrial action. Ironically, it has had the opposite
effect. On July 09, 49 of the 52 pilots were fired, earning those in the entire
group the title of "49ers". The press release on July 09 was arrogantly entitled
"The way to end the pilot's dispute". Their objectives are not financial (reported
profits for the year 2000 was $640 million USD), but rather to crush the pilot's
union as they have done with every other union on company property. In the first
two weeks of the dispute, the company had lost more money on charters and forward
bookings than the entire value of the union's requests.
Some of the 49ers were called in the middle of the night and read a termination notice.
Others were away and their surprised spouses received the termination letter by
fax. One tried to enter the building only to find his employee card did not work.
I found out with a DHL package in my mailbox and have not heard from the company
since. However, they have advised the Hong Kong Revenue Department that we were
all leaving town on short notice (untrue of course) and we were all therefore presented
with a bill for 1 1/2 years worth of income tax due in less than a week. I have
yet to receive a dime from the company.
The dispute occurred due to repeated contract violations and pointless talks to resolve
discrimination and unstable rostering. There are currently 32 different contracts
for Cathay Pacific's 1500 pilots. B scale is the tip of the iceberg. If a pilot
of Chinese heritage applies overseas, he may be hired on a local package (worth approximately
half of an overseas expatriate package), because he has inherited the right to work
in Hong Kong from his parents. This is irrelevant of his experience level and whether
or not he speaks a word of Cantonese or has ever set foot in Hong Kong.
Rosters are almost comically unstable. It is not uncommon to be rostered for a short
haul flight or a simulator, only to be hauled out after sign-on to perform a 5 day
pattern of ultra long haul. The vast majority of flights do not go with the crew
they were rostered for. It is impossible to predict where you will be on any given
day of the month. One sacked pilot had only worked 2 rostered flights in the 4 months
preceding his termination.
I, as with all the 49ers, am now working full time for the union. We do not consider
ourselves "fallen", but instead, we consider ourselves "hostages" in an industrial
confrontation. Accordingly, all Cathay Pacific pilots are now wearing yellow ribbons
on their uniform to remind all of our predicament. Spouses, peers and friends have
also attached a yellow ribbon to their chest to remind the public.
Although I devoted most of my free time to the union prior to this dispute (I was
not credited for any union time by the company), all of the 49ers are now employees
of the union, devoted to a fair contract and rehire. It is this unions policy not
to sign any agreement which does not include full reinstatement of the 49ers.
IFALPA has instituted this ban so that others do not come to Cathay Pacific to fill
my position and the positions of the 51 others. It is important for your peers to
realize that a pilot may attend an interview, but would be permanently blackballed
by IFALPA for signing a contract or accepting any flying position with Cathay Pacific
Airways until this dispute is resolved and the ban lifted. Please forward on this
message to your fellow aviators.
Thank you for your time.