Members of Cathay Pacific Flight Attendants Union stage a protest on Monday. The union held an extraordinary meeting and decided to kick-off an industrial action starting from limited services against the airline's salary proposal. Parker Zheng / China Daily

Christmas is let go, but New Year or Chinese New Year may be targeted: Flight attendants

The Cathay Pacific Flight Attendants Union plans a three-stage industrial action, leading to a full scale strike in its dispute with the airline over salary and working conditions.

The union announced on Monday that it would commence its industrial action with limited service, escalating to work-to-rule before the full walkout, if the airline's management does not return to the negotiating table.

The union has authorized the industrial action to proceed following an extraordinary general meeting on Monday, which was attended by more than 1,600 unionized workers. The meeting was called to discuss the company's final offer of a 2 percent pay increase next year. The union demanded 5 percent but said it was willing to negotiate an exchange for better working conditions.

Union spokesmen issued no details as to the timing of the planned industrial action, saying only the date and guidelines will be published at an "appropriate time".

Dora Lai, chairwoman of the union, said, "We have got the complete authorization through this meeting from our members to initiate an appropriate action at the appropriate time".

She said, under the condition of "safety first", staff would provide limited service to passengers.

"After we finish a series of such actions, (if) we can not get a response from the management, we would consider a real strike," she said, adding the date of strike would not be disclosed.

The meeting also passed a resolution to set up an emergency fund to deal with the expenses of the industrial action and an advisory group - consisting of lawyers and lawmakers - to give guidance and guarantee members participated in the strike.

Lai emphasized the strike would be the "last step" and apologized to passengers whose plans might be disrupted. She said the union would not strike during Christmas, but might upgrade the industrial action at the New Year or Spring Festival at the earliest, if Cathay management still refuses to negotiate.

The union wants management to return to the bargaining table as soon as possible, and said it would inform passengers ahead of time in order to let them change their travel plans.

Liza Ng, general manager of cabin crew at the airline, said the airline has a deficit of HK$0.9 billion and salary adjustments must consider the industry's operating situation and the economical atmosphere.

Ng said, "The management would not return to the negotiating table if the union does not remove the threat of industrial action".

The manager emphasized that the 2 percent salary increment plan for next year is "fair, reasonable" and also it was the best the airline could offer taking into account the other employees of the airline.

When asked about the airline's plans if the union did take action, Ng said the company would adopt different contingency plans, depending on the different types of situations.

Last week, the union reactivated the "industrial near futureaction preparation committee", which worked out the format and details of the upcoming industrial action and proposed it to members in the Monday meeting. It also started all the organizing works for the action.

fanfeifei@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 12/11/2012 page1)