Hi Hotdog, the italics were from Drop and Stop's earlier message, from "South China Morning Post". Heathrow appeared in another list over the weekend, now amended!
From today's SCMP - "The Government has no plans to impose a cooling-off period in the Cathay Pacific industrial dispute at this stage, Executive Councillor Tam Yiu-chung said yesterday.
"It[The current situation] is not bad enough to warrant the imposition of a cooling-off period," said Mr Tam, who is also a Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong legislator. "The Government rarely imposes such cooling-off periods to resolve industrial disputes," he said.
Under the Labour Relations Ordinance, the Chief Executive and Executive Council can order a cooling-off period if the industrial action causes an interruption to the supply of goods and provision of services which might be "gravely injurious to the economy" or "seriously affect the livelihood of a substantial number of persons".
Mr Tam hoped the Labour Department could arrange for Cathay Pacific management and pilots to return to negotiations. He warned that both sides would suffer if the row continued.
Meanwhile, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee told RTHK's City Forum the incident was a commercial dispute in which the Government should not get involved.
She said it was hard to estimate the loss to the tourism industry but said the damage to Hong Kong would be great if the situation continued."
[ 09 July 2001: Message edited by: newswatcher ]