Cathay Pacific talks fail to achieve liftoff

Unionists want business-stressed Cathay Pacific to launch a voluntary departure scheme before turning to layoffs.

That came after a hour-long meeting with the airline management yesterday.

But Cathay Pacific had nothing to say about staff arrangements, and the two sides meet again next week.

Zuki Wong Sze-man, who chairs the Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union, said the company side held to the line that "they would not rule out any possibility." But the company and the union agreed to safeguard as many jobs as they could, she added. So the union hoped the flag carrier could first consider a voluntary retrenchment scheme if it wants to downsize.

"Representatives of the company said they will continue to let senior management know about our opinions," Wong added.

Wong also said yesterday's meeting was not related to rumors of sackings. Staff were told two weeks ago not to spread rumors.

There was also a statement yesterday from the Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions and the Airport Air Freight Employees' Association.

They also urged Cathay Pacific to consider other options to layoffs, such as launching a voluntary departure scheme and providing better compensation.

As Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon are leading enterprises, the two said, other companies may follow suit if they implemented layoffs.

And the head of the Staff and Workers Union of Hong Kong Civil Airlines, Li Wing-foo, said any large-scale layoff would affect the aviation industry as well as operations at the airport, especially during the post-pandemic economic recovery.

Li said that layoffs could lead to a drain of talent from the aviation industry as engineers or technicians could be recruited by operations in places where economies recovered faster.

Hundreds of aviation workers have already quit and switched to other jobs, he added.