from this mornings South China morning post
Cathay Pacific yesterday sacked a captain and two other pilots in a move the aircrew union believes is aimed at forcing pilots to end their industrial action over pay and rosters.
The captain, a union member with 11 years' service, was sacked for failing to show up for a delay-plagued Los Angeles flight on Tuesday without a satisfactory reason. Cathay spokesman Tony Tyler said he committed a "serious breach" of his employment conditions.
One of the other pilots, a first officer, was also on board the Los Angeles flight. He was a member of the pilots' union committee.
The third pilot, also a first officer, was not a member of the union. All were given three-months' pay in lieu of notice.
The committee member was aboard what was supposed to have been a non-stop flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. It detoured to Vancouver and Osaka because crew were due for rest breaks and arrived five hours late.
A pilot source said staff believed Cathay wanted to make an example of him in a bid to convince colleagues to call off their campaign. "A couple of weeks ago, a senior manager said 'what we need to do is sack 20 or 30 of them and the rest will get the message'," the source said. Cathay denies the comments.
Mr Tyler said the company had lost confidence in the union member, while the non-union pilot was sacked because he had not had sufficient rest before reporting for duty.