Union given 2 months to rethink deal on sacked Cathay pilots
Cathay Pacific has given its pilots two months to change their minds and accept the offer of a 10-month payout or job interviews for the group of sacked pilots known as the '49ers'.
The airline has told the Aircrew Officers Association it will withdraw the offer on May 16 and pay into court a smaller sum as an out-of-court settlement in return for dropping their legal action.
The union has, meanwhile, warned members it faces a 'very real membership crisis' and has called an emergency meeting to decide whether to fight on or accept the Cathay offer.
The 49ers were dismissed by Cathay during a bitter 2001 dispute over pay and rosters and have been supported by union members for the 31/2 years since.
The sacked pilots receive up to a $25,000 subsidy each a month as well as legal funding. Supporting the group has pushed union dues up to 5 per cent of salaries and cost the union hundreds of members.
A motion to accept the Cathay offer proposed by the union last month narrowly failed to gain the necessary two-thirds majority,
Now members will be given a second chance to accept the offer if they fail to agree to extra legal funding at an extraordinary general meeting next month.
If they want to carry on with the legal cases in three jurisdictions, they will have to vote to pay tens of thousands of dollars each in special levies to fund the court battles.
The union, which says accepting the offer remains the best option, is trying to stem the fall in membership numbers by cutting subscription rates from 3 per cent to 1.5 per cent from May 1. New members are also exempt from levies to fund the legal cases.
In a circular, president Murray Gardner points out the union - which had about 1,300 members in 2001 - now has only 925 of the airline's 1,912 pilots as members.
'We are in a precarious position,' he said, adding that last month's vote had 'created the potential for a very real membership crisis within our association'.
Mr Gardner said lawyers for the union estimated it would cost another $13 million to carry on with the court cases in Australia, Hong Kong and Britain, which are expected to last another year.
If members decide to fight on, they will have to commit to special levies amounting to as much as 36 months of subscriptions at 3 per cent on top of regular union dues.
Most of the 49ers want to continue with their fight and supporters have accused the union committee of 'bad faith' by resubmitting the Cathay offer to members.
