Cathay crew uneasy at early retirement plan
Staff fear they will lose long-service payments if they volunteer for cost-cutting measure
Cathay Pacific is introducing an early retirement scheme for cabin crew as part of "cost management measures".
But staff fear a clause in the application form could mean they will lose the long-service payments they are normally entitled to when they reach the retirement age of 55.
The long-service payment was introduced for staff who joined the airline before September 1, 1996, when the airline switched from a fixed monthly salary to an hourly wage.
The announcement of the Voluntary Early Retirement Scheme was made in a newsletter posted on the airline's intranet yesterday. "This is a purely voluntary scheme, designed both as a means of contributing to our ongoing cost management efforts and as a means of facilitating the lifestyle aspirations of some of our cabin crew," it said.
The scheme is open to cabin crew who joined Cathay before September 1, 1996. Those who join the voluntary plan will be entitled to a payment calculated in two ways, whichever is lower.
In the first method, the amount is calculated by multiplying a crew member's last monthly salary by their years of service, then dividing it by 15, and then multiplying it by the years remaining before they reach 55.
The second method is simpler: 20 months of salary.