SCMP - Paris base closure
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SCMP - Paris base closure
Looks like SCMP got wind of the Paris base closure:
French labour watchdog steps in after Cathay Pacific closes Paris pilots' base
News›World
AVIATION
Phila Siu [email protected]
Labour watchdog is called in to examine work contracts after airline closes its Paris base
France's labour watchdog has stepped into a row over the closure of Cathay Pacific's Paris base and is being urged to investigate the employment contracts of the pilots.
Cathay closed its Paris base on September 1, giving the 39 pilots based there just 11 weeks to prepare for their move back to Hong Kong. Pilots said the airline closed the base, one of 18 outside Hong Kong, because it wanted to give them cheaper, local contracts rather than the expatriate terms they were on and to avoid France's stringent labour laws.
The Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association (AOA) contacted the French Labour Inspectorate about the case late last month after the airline rejected its request to delay the closure. It has also sought legal advice on the officers' contractual rights.
"Investigations into the terms and conditions whereby the Paris-based officers had been employed highlighted the fact that it appeared that there could be irregularities in their employment arrangement under French law, as well as in how the Paris base closure was being handled by Cathay management," AOA chairman Peter Vinna wrote in the union's internal newsletter last week.
The airline last month offered the affected officers paid leave so that they would have more time to make arrangements for returning to Hong Kong. But the offer was contingent upon the AOA signing agreements not to encourage its members to seek redress with the French Labour Inspectorate.
About an hour after the offer was made in a meeting with Cathay's management, the AOA was told that the Labour Inspectorate had paid a visit to Cathay's office at Charles de Gaulle Airport.
"Given the overall facts and circumstances of the situation, and based upon legal advice, it was determined that the best way to proceed that would ensure we were acting in the best interests of the PBOs was to co-operate with the LI (Labour Inspectorate)," the newsletter says.
A union newsletter dated August 29 suggested that the decision to close the Paris base was made on the recommendation of the company's strategic basings review workgroup, which found that the environment in France had become "challenging" and several Boeing 747 services had been removed.
Another AOA newsletter in July quoted Cathay's general manager for aircrew as saying that the bases in Vancouver, Sydney and Manchester were chronically overmanned and did not make business sense. The viability of the bases in Adelaide and Perth were also being reviewed, the newsletter said.
A Cathay spokeswoman said the decision to close the Paris base had not been an easy one. While reviewing the basing policy, the spokeswoman said Cathay took into consideration factors such as operational and scheduling requirements.
"We are conducting a review of our overseas basing strategy but it is too early to say what the outcome will be," the spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman also said the affected officers have been relocated to Hong Kong with relocation support, including accommodation, provided for them.
The company last month denied that the closure is due to problems with a tax-saving scheme set up in 1992, through which the company's overseas pilots were employed through a shell company.
The Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department is also understood to be looking at possible outstanding payments linked to Cathay and many overseas-based pilots.
French labour watchdog steps in after Cathay Pacific closes Paris pilots' base
News›World
AVIATION
Phila Siu [email protected]
Labour watchdog is called in to examine work contracts after airline closes its Paris base
France's labour watchdog has stepped into a row over the closure of Cathay Pacific's Paris base and is being urged to investigate the employment contracts of the pilots.
Cathay closed its Paris base on September 1, giving the 39 pilots based there just 11 weeks to prepare for their move back to Hong Kong. Pilots said the airline closed the base, one of 18 outside Hong Kong, because it wanted to give them cheaper, local contracts rather than the expatriate terms they were on and to avoid France's stringent labour laws.
The Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association (AOA) contacted the French Labour Inspectorate about the case late last month after the airline rejected its request to delay the closure. It has also sought legal advice on the officers' contractual rights.
"Investigations into the terms and conditions whereby the Paris-based officers had been employed highlighted the fact that it appeared that there could be irregularities in their employment arrangement under French law, as well as in how the Paris base closure was being handled by Cathay management," AOA chairman Peter Vinna wrote in the union's internal newsletter last week.
The airline last month offered the affected officers paid leave so that they would have more time to make arrangements for returning to Hong Kong. But the offer was contingent upon the AOA signing agreements not to encourage its members to seek redress with the French Labour Inspectorate.
About an hour after the offer was made in a meeting with Cathay's management, the AOA was told that the Labour Inspectorate had paid a visit to Cathay's office at Charles de Gaulle Airport.
"Given the overall facts and circumstances of the situation, and based upon legal advice, it was determined that the best way to proceed that would ensure we were acting in the best interests of the PBOs was to co-operate with the LI (Labour Inspectorate)," the newsletter says.
A union newsletter dated August 29 suggested that the decision to close the Paris base was made on the recommendation of the company's strategic basings review workgroup, which found that the environment in France had become "challenging" and several Boeing 747 services had been removed.
Another AOA newsletter in July quoted Cathay's general manager for aircrew as saying that the bases in Vancouver, Sydney and Manchester were chronically overmanned and did not make business sense. The viability of the bases in Adelaide and Perth were also being reviewed, the newsletter said.
A Cathay spokeswoman said the decision to close the Paris base had not been an easy one. While reviewing the basing policy, the spokeswoman said Cathay took into consideration factors such as operational and scheduling requirements.
"We are conducting a review of our overseas basing strategy but it is too early to say what the outcome will be," the spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman also said the affected officers have been relocated to Hong Kong with relocation support, including accommodation, provided for them.
The company last month denied that the closure is due to problems with a tax-saving scheme set up in 1992, through which the company's overseas pilots were employed through a shell company.
The Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department is also understood to be looking at possible outstanding payments linked to Cathay and many overseas-based pilots.
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It's curious how so many of Cathay's actions attract the attention of the courts, immigration, taxation, anti-trust, and now labour authorities. Why do you suppose that is?
It's quite an impressive track record if the goal is to always exist in the dark gray areas of the law! From an employee's perspective, I'd rather work for a company committed to do things legally and ethically, but we all know that's a pipe dream unless willing to leave and start over somewhere else - at the bottom of the list.
It's quite an impressive track record if the goal is to always exist in the dark gray areas of the law! From an employee's perspective, I'd rather work for a company committed to do things legally and ethically, but we all know that's a pipe dream unless willing to leave and start over somewhere else - at the bottom of the list.
This one may just be a step too far. Perhaps somebody should have done a 'Basings Review' before Basings were started in the first place. You know:-
1.Advantages
2.Disadvantages
3.Corporate and personal Taxation implications
4.Contractual obligations
5.Labour Laws
6.Present and projected services vs personnel numbers
There are more but it does require a bit more than a few amateurs in a tiny office on the 3rd Floor who have little knowledge or expertise in any of the above.
For once - "Come on you French'
1.Advantages
2.Disadvantages
3.Corporate and personal Taxation implications
4.Contractual obligations
5.Labour Laws
6.Present and projected services vs personnel numbers
There are more but it does require a bit more than a few amateurs in a tiny office on the 3rd Floor who have little knowledge or expertise in any of the above.
For once - "Come on you French'
but funny.
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I still can't get my head around why the French have been given the status of an "allied force" and given a quarter of Germany and Berlin to occupy after WW2.
By the same logic the Austrians should have gotten a piece, too
but now we're waaaay OT ...
By the same logic the Austrians should have gotten a piece, too
but now we're waaaay OT ...
'I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me.'
General George S. Patton
'Going to war without France is like going bear hunting without your accordion.'
Norman Schwartzkopf
'We can stand here like the French or we can do something about it.'
Ian Rodwell
'As far as I'm concerned, Paris basings always means failure.'
Jacques Chirac, President of France
'The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting on the Champs Elysees sipping coffee.'
Regis Philbin
'The last time the French asked for 'more proof' it came marching into Paris under a German flag.'
David Letterman
'War without France would be like...well...World War II.'
Unknown
'What do you expect from a culture and a nation that exerted more of its national will fighting against Disney World, Cathay Basings and Big Macs than the Nazis?'
SCMP Editor
'It is important to remember that the French have always been there when they needed us.'
John Slosar
Q. What did the Mayor of Paris say to the German Army as they entered the city in WWII?
A. Table for 100,000 m'sieur?
'Do you know how many CX management people it takes to defend the Paris base? It's not known, it's never been tried.'
Ian Rodwell....again!
'Do you know it took Germany three days to conquer France in WWII but that was only because it was raining.'
John Xereas, Manager, DC Improv
"French Ban Fireworks at Euro Disney" (AP, Paris , March 5, 2003)
“The French Government announced today that it is imposing a ban on the use of fireworks at Euro Disney. The decision comes the day after a nightly fireworks display at the park, located just 30 miles outside of Paris , caused the soldiers at a nearby French Army garrison to surrender to a group of Czech tourists.”
General George S. Patton
'Going to war without France is like going bear hunting without your accordion.'
Norman Schwartzkopf
'We can stand here like the French or we can do something about it.'
Ian Rodwell
'As far as I'm concerned, Paris basings always means failure.'
Jacques Chirac, President of France
'The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting on the Champs Elysees sipping coffee.'
Regis Philbin
'The last time the French asked for 'more proof' it came marching into Paris under a German flag.'
David Letterman
'War without France would be like...well...World War II.'
Unknown
'What do you expect from a culture and a nation that exerted more of its national will fighting against Disney World, Cathay Basings and Big Macs than the Nazis?'
SCMP Editor
'It is important to remember that the French have always been there when they needed us.'
John Slosar
Q. What did the Mayor of Paris say to the German Army as they entered the city in WWII?
A. Table for 100,000 m'sieur?
'Do you know how many CX management people it takes to defend the Paris base? It's not known, it's never been tried.'
Ian Rodwell....again!
'Do you know it took Germany three days to conquer France in WWII but that was only because it was raining.'
John Xereas, Manager, DC Improv
"French Ban Fireworks at Euro Disney" (AP, Paris , March 5, 2003)
“The French Government announced today that it is imposing a ban on the use of fireworks at Euro Disney. The decision comes the day after a nightly fireworks display at the park, located just 30 miles outside of Paris , caused the soldiers at a nearby French Army garrison to surrender to a group of Czech tourists.”
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The Complete Military History of France
- Gallic Wars
- Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian.
- Hundred Years War
- Mostly lost, saved at last by female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare; "France's armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman." Sainted.
- Italian Wars
- Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever lose two wars when fighting Italians.
- Wars of Religion
- France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots
- Thirty Years War
- France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.
- War of Revolution
- Tied. Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as chapeaux.
- The Dutch War
- Tied
- War of the Augsburg League/King William's War/French and Indian War
- Lost, but claimed as a tie. Three ties in a row induces deluded Frogophiles the world over to label the period as the height of French military power.
- War of the Spanish Succession
- Lost. The War also gave the French their first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved every since.
- American Revolution
- In a move that will become quite familiar to future Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far more action. This is later known as "de Gaulle Syndrome", and leads to the Second Rule of French Warfare; "France only wins when America does most of the fighting."
- French Revolution
- Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also French.
- The Napoleonic Wars
- Lost. Temporary victories (remember the First Rule!) due to leadership of a Corsican, who ended up being no match for a British footwear designer.
- The Franco-Prussian War
- Lost. Germany first plays the role of drunk Frat boy to France's ugly girl home alone on a Saturday night.
- World War I
- Tied and on the way to losing, France is saved by the United States. Thousands of French women find out what it's like to not only sleep with a winner, but one who doesn't call her "Fraulein." Sadly, widespread use of condoms by American forces forestalls any improvement in the French bloodline.
- World War II
- Lost. Conquered French liberated by the United States and Britain just as they finish learning the Horst Wessel Song.
- War in Indochina
- Lost. French forces plead sickness; take to bed with the Dien Bien Flu
- Algerian Rebellion
- Lost. Loss marks the first defeat of a western army by a Non-Turkic Muslim force since the Crusades, and produces the First Rule of Muslim Warfare; "We can always beat the French." This rule is identical to the First Rules of the Italians, Russians, Germans, English, Dutch, Spanish, Vietnamese and Esquimaux.
The question for any country silly enough to count on the French should not be "Can we count on the French?", but rather "How long until France collapses?"
"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion. All you do is leave behind a lot of noisy baggage."
Or, better still, the quote from last week's Wall Street Journal: "They're there when they need you."
- Gallic Wars
- Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian.
- Hundred Years War
- Mostly lost, saved at last by female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare; "France's armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman." Sainted.
- Italian Wars
- Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever lose two wars when fighting Italians.
- Wars of Religion
- France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots
- Thirty Years War
- France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.
- War of Revolution
- Tied. Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as chapeaux.
- The Dutch War
- Tied
- War of the Augsburg League/King William's War/French and Indian War
- Lost, but claimed as a tie. Three ties in a row induces deluded Frogophiles the world over to label the period as the height of French military power.
- War of the Spanish Succession
- Lost. The War also gave the French their first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved every since.
- American Revolution
- In a move that will become quite familiar to future Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far more action. This is later known as "de Gaulle Syndrome", and leads to the Second Rule of French Warfare; "France only wins when America does most of the fighting."
- French Revolution
- Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also French.
- The Napoleonic Wars
- Lost. Temporary victories (remember the First Rule!) due to leadership of a Corsican, who ended up being no match for a British footwear designer.
- The Franco-Prussian War
- Lost. Germany first plays the role of drunk Frat boy to France's ugly girl home alone on a Saturday night.
- World War I
- Tied and on the way to losing, France is saved by the United States. Thousands of French women find out what it's like to not only sleep with a winner, but one who doesn't call her "Fraulein." Sadly, widespread use of condoms by American forces forestalls any improvement in the French bloodline.
- World War II
- Lost. Conquered French liberated by the United States and Britain just as they finish learning the Horst Wessel Song.
- War in Indochina
- Lost. French forces plead sickness; take to bed with the Dien Bien Flu
- Algerian Rebellion
- Lost. Loss marks the first defeat of a western army by a Non-Turkic Muslim force since the Crusades, and produces the First Rule of Muslim Warfare; "We can always beat the French." This rule is identical to the First Rules of the Italians, Russians, Germans, English, Dutch, Spanish, Vietnamese and Esquimaux.
The question for any country silly enough to count on the French should not be "Can we count on the French?", but rather "How long until France collapses?"
"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion. All you do is leave behind a lot of noisy baggage."
Or, better still, the quote from last week's Wall Street Journal: "They're there when they need you."
