PR Battle
 

SCMP
Thursday, June 21, 2001
http://hongkong.scmp.com/ZZZX55VL5OC.html

Uniform approach to PR battle
T-shirts and sandals abandoned as fliers spruce up image to win hearts and minds.

http://hongkong.scmp.com/usr3/Mac/iedt/CDRES1.jpg

An army of Cathay pilots marched into yesterday's historic vote on industrial action determined to win not only better pay and conditions but the public relations battle with their bosses.
Wearing full company uniform - in sharp contrast to the T-shirts and sandals many wore to a high-profile union meeting last summer - they said it was a show of solidarity and pride in their profession.

But the stream of crisp white shirts symbolised how the pilots have transformed their public image since their 1999 showdown with management, in an attempt to at least win a little community support.

With an opponent as formidable as Cathay Pacific, the battle for Hong Kong's hearts and minds is one they probably can never win. The fact they are asking for a pay rise when they already earn more than most of their passengers is another hurdle.

But they are doing everything they can - from buying coffee and cakes for reporters to hiring a former US union-buster to brief their members - to ensure they are better armed than ever before.

Cathay has a battalion of spin doctors on staff and is believed to use an outside public relations firm - which would charge up to $3,000 an hour - for crisis management at times like this.

The company blitzed the pilots in the 1999 PR battle, when the union started out with just a fledgling local firm to help union general secretary John Findlay - who is not a pilot - field a stream of press inquiries. Then, the union accused Cathay of distributing misleading figures about salaries, but refused to provide any of its own.

This time, it has working pilots facing the press with Mr Findlay, is handing out graphs comparing salaries with pilots abroad, and has mastered the photo opportunity and the sound bite.

The union has the backing of Hong Kong's "Mr PR" Martin Spurrier and his firm Weber Shandwick, which is also believed to charge between $2,000 and $3,000 an hour. Mr Spurrier was hired by the union during the last dispute, but not until after the initial damage had been done.

The union is believed to have told members to "look the part" for yesterday's meeting by wearing uniforms. Last year's images of pilots in Bermuda shorts and flip-flops did little to dispel public perception that pilots spend most of their time sitting around at home.

"It would appear that we've been the target of a pilot-bashing campaign," union president and senior Cathay pilot Nigel Demery said yesterday. "I'm personally very proud to be a professional pilot, and while we don't expect to win the hearts and minds of the Hong Kong community, we're certainly proud to wear our uniforms in public."

Prompting a clatter of activity among photographers, Mr Demery held up a copy of his pay advice from Cathay showing how much he earned, the point being that it was nowhere near the more than $3 million a year that he and his colleagues are rumoured to earn.

The stunt lost a little of its impact when he said how much was in his pay packet last year - $1.74 million.

Cathay has a battalion of spin doctors on staff and is believed to use an outside public relations firm - which would charge up to $3,000 an hour - for crisis management at times like this.....to keep THEMSELVES (the "outside PR firm") employed, as they tell CX management how vitally important it is to press on and NOT NEGIOTIATE - regardless of cost to the Company and inconvenience to passengers!

Go for it CX management (and "PR advisors"), you can do it!!

I am most suprised, but glad to see that your organization is finally getting its act together armed with good sense PR. Archived in the files of this forum the actions you are now taking were posted back in 1999 to be done. What is sad is, that two years, and such subjugation was not necessary and could have been avoided.

Need to put some local faces on that picture. It helps.