Cathay staff agree to joint protest over medical fees
Cathay staff agree to joint protest over medical feesMartin Wong
Updated on Dec 04, 2007
Cathay Pacific ground staff and cabin crew, angry at recent changes to their medical benefits scheme, will stage a protest on Monday.
They have also threatened to strike if management refuses to speak to them next week.
Speaking after a special meeting at the Regal Airport Hotel attended by 200 members, the chairwoman of the airline's Flight Attendants Union, Becky Kwan Siu-wa, said they demanded that the management listen to their views.
"We will have a protest next Monday and urge management to talk to us as soon as possible," she said.
This is the first time Cathay cabin crew and ground staff have united for a common cause.
Under a new scheme to start on January 1 that covers 10,000 workers, junior staff who joined the company after June 1997 will have to pay HK$30 for each consultation with a general practitioner and HK$50 for each specialist consultation.
For senior staff, the fees will be HK$50 and HK$100.
Ms Kwan did not reveal what form the protest would take, saying the union was still planning the event.
"But then we will escalate our industrial action if the company still fails to respond to us by that day. We may have a strike," Ms Kwan said.
"We may ask union members to call in on sick leave. We may ask our members not to serve passengers on the planes."
The union said the new scheme was unfair.
"Why should we pay at all? What will this lead to? Will it be the beginning of requiring workers having to pay to go to work?" Ms Kwan said.
The union said it had received feedback from disgruntled members and from ground staff colleagues over the proposal.
Cathay Pacific management said the new system was aimed at offering more protection to staff rather than asking them to pay more.
A company spokeswoman said: "The new scheme was proposed because many staff members told us that the current one cannot cover their medical expenses if they are critically ill and they have to be admitted to hospital."
She said the scheme would raise the company's insurance costs by 10 per cent.
"Many staff members support the new scheme. And in fact we have already revised the scheme a little bit after listening to their opinions, and the clinic fees were lowered," she said. She noted that the airline had been discussing the issue with the union and would continue negotiations.