Now with the support of the umbrella group.
A powerful international labour group has ramped up pressure on Cathay Pacific to offer a better employment deal to cabin crew by vowing to assist in a disruptive summer strike threatened by their union.
Gabriel Mocho Rodriguez, civil aviation chief for the International Transport Workers' Federation, told Cathay that settling grievances over pay and benefits was "in your best interests" so industrial action "doesn't become the only way forward due to a lack of progress".
It is the first time the federation - whose member unions represent some 4.6 million workers - has intervened in a dispute at Cathay since the last cabin-crew strike, in 1993. Should a strike take place, it will encourage affiliates in key destinations to put pressure on the carrier.
Talks between the Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union and airline management were to restart on Wednesday after the government invited both parties to the Labour Department in an attempt to end the stalemate.
The mediation efforts follow the union's 41-hour sit-in across three days at Chek Lap Kok airport and another protest outside the company's headquarters last week.
In a letter to Cathay chief executive Ivan Chu Kwok-leung, Rodriguez expressed concern about the handling of the labour dispute.
"These claims are fair and legitimate, and it would be in your best interests to open negotiations," he wrote. "We hope that industrial action doesn't become the only way forward due to a lack of progress and serious response from Cathay Pacific."
In a veiled threat, Rodriguez added: "The cost of losing such goodwill can be difficult to measure in direct financial terms, but it is likely to be significant over time."
A Cathay spokeswoman said: "We will continue to communicate with the Flight Attendants Union and the Labour Department is arranging a meeting with the airline and the [union]."
Flight attendants have vowed to walk out for two weeks from August 18 if no deal is agreed on pay, allowances and legal protection, putting the company under severe pressure at one of the busiest times of the year.
Of the company's 10,000 cabin crew, about 6,300 are union members.
In 1993, a 17-day strike hit during the Lunar New Year holiday peak, as the union confronted bosses over staffing and pay, as well as the alleged unfair dismissal of senior crew members.
Outside Hong Kong, the federation was at the heart of a coordinated global operation to ground any chartered Cathay planes and ensure members of its affiliated unions did not cross picket lines.
All told, Cathay estimated it lost HK$230 million that year.
If the upcoming talks fail and a strike goes ahead, the federation will try to ground Cathay planes in London, New York and Sydney.
"We've picked these three because, according to the [union's] info, these are the most profitable and busiest routes that generate most of Cathay's income," said Carol Ng Man-yee, secretary general of the Cabin Crew Federation, an affiliate of the international umbrella body.
"We'll mobilise all the local union members [in these cities] maybe to surround the airport or protest."
The dispute centres on discrepancies in pay for junior crew members determined by the date they signed permanent contracts. Those who signed before April 2 saw their pay rise from HK$144.70 per flying hour to HK$176.80, but those who signed after April 16 would get only HK$159.30.
The union wants the higher rate extended to all junior crew, who take home about HK$18,000 a month in pay and allowances.