Lashing for Cathay on sackings
By Keith Wallis
HK iMail
SENIOR management at Cathay Pacific Airways and parent company Swire Group have been strongly condemned by an international pilots' group for sacking 51 pilots last year in a festering labour wrangle.
The firings were "unjust'', "unwarranted' and designed to intimidate, the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (Ifalpa) said in a resolution passed yesterday at the end of a five-day meeting in Oslo, Norway.
The group, which represents 114,000 pilots worldwide, also urged Hong Kong's de facto flag carrier to reconsider a request by the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers' Association (HKAOA) for an independent mediator to settle the dispute.
It said Cathay Pacific's refusal to agree on an impartial judge "is the latest blow in nine years of conflict between Cathay Pacific's pilots and its management, making it the longest-running labour dispute in Asia''.
HKAOA general secretary John Findlay said Cathay's decision not to agree to a mediator was extremely disappointing and perplexing.
"Unfortunately, it also demonstrates a backward and combative management culture to Cathay's investors, employees, customers and the Hong Kong community,'' he said.
The 51 aircrew were sacked after working to contract as part of a campaign by the HKAOA to seek negotiations with Cathay Pacific over rostering, work practices and benefits in a row that has simmered since 1993.
Ifalpa president Ted Murphy said the group supported the pilots and the HKAOA "because the risk of allowing this kind of activity to persist can only result in negative implications for the aviation industry worldwide, whilst seriously damaging Cathay''.
The Ifalpa resolution comes after the International Labour Organisation launched an investigation into Cathay Pacific's practices and treatment of its pilots during the dispute.
Nobody from Cathay Pacific was immediately available to comment.