Wasn't saying the guys hadn't worked hard for the union just stating the simple fact that the court case has shown they are employed under NZ employment law which doesn't have a retirement age. Just like AirNZ. Therefore, just like Air NZ, at age 65 when the first of those on the NZ base hit 65 and can't legally fly to HKG but have the right under NZ law to be still employed by the company one of three things will happen:
1) The company finds the employee alternative employment within the Cathay group.
2)The company pays out redundancy.
3)The pilot voluntarily retires.
Given the chance of #1 being remote, why would you take retirement knowing the company will haveto pay you 2-4 years? annual pay as redundancy instead. From the company's perspective why pay out redundancy everytime crew on the base hit 65 if closing the base may be cheaper.
I'm probably completely wrong.