Cathay bows to union in roster-change row
MaryAnnBenitez
Friday, March 26, 2010
More than 800 Cathay flight attendants staged a protest at the airport yesterday despite the carrier canceling controversial duty-swapping guidelines.
The flight attendants said they will continue their fight for "equal work for equal pay," and have not ruled out strike action.
The airline's general manager for in-flight services, Charlie Stewart- Cox, issued a statement telling crew that "the company has canceled and will not reintroduce the guideline related to swapping [shifts] below [working] the 70 hours minimum."
The decision came after 12 hours of talks between management and the Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants' Union on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The policy, announced on March 15, required cabin crew to work at least 70 hours in a month before they could swap shifts with colleagues.
Cathay immediately announced it was deferring its implementation indefinitely before announcing yesterday it has been scrapped.
Becky Kwan Siu-wah, vice chairwoman of the union, said they will seek to continue talks with management on the core issue of low hourly pay that has led to crew members swapping shifts.
"We welcome this decision to cancel [the guideline] but we are still very keen to continue with the talks regarding the other problems at hand. And these include first and foremost the remuneration package for the hourly pay crew because we think that is the core issue," she said.
"It is because of the low hourly pay rate that hourly pay crew need to swap to fly more to earn more ... We strongly feel that it is time to go for equal work for equal pay."
The union held a demonstration outside the airline's Cathay City headquarters, which is near the airport, to show their discontent over the decision to change the swap guidelines. A total of 854 members joined in the protest.
Asked if strike action over the Easter holidays is still on the cards, Kwan said she hoped talks will continue. "We hope we will never have to resort to further industrial action. We will not rule out escalating our action," she said.
Cathay corporate affairs director Quince Chong Wai-yin said: "We have listened to our staff."