Advertisement
Advertisement
Cathay Pacific
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more

Cathay pilots' work-to-rule protest 'causing flight cancellations and delays'

In a memo to crew, director says work-to-rule action may be 'morphing into something else'

Cathay Pacific bosses say pilots engaged in a work-to-rule campaign are forcing flight cancellations and delays by taking sick days in unusually high numbers, which the airline has dubbed "tactical sickness".

In a strongly worded memo, flight operations director Captain Richard Hall told cockpit crew that high sickness levels ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday suggested the industrial action was "morphing into something else".

But the Aircrew Officers' Association, which declared in November that pilots would stick to the letter of their contracts, strongly denied pilots were feigning illness. Instead, it blamed a shortage of pilots and the "worst flu outbreak in recent years".

The bitter exchange marks an escalation in the dispute and echoes the bitter 2001 industrial battle in which Cathay fired 49 pilots, some of whom it accused of calling in sick just before flights.

In his memo, Hall told pilots that crew managers had found it increasingly difficult to contract crew and maintain roster stability as the holidays approached and sick leave surged.

"Tactical sickness … further undermines our ability to maintain normal reliability," he wrote. "Current sickness rates are higher than those of past years.

"Questions are inevitably asked when, as happened recently, a large number of those scheduled to work … phoned in sick on the day. Normal levels of reserve are simply not intended to cope with such an eventuality."

He added: "It would be quite unpalatable to think that professionals would declare themselves to be sick if in fact they were not. Our customers … would have every right to question the professional ethics of anyone who did so."

Chris Beebe, general secretary of the association, has written to management in protest.

"We resent the use of sick calls [by management] as a smokescreen to cover up other inadequacies," said Beebe, whose group represents 2,100 of Cathay's 2,900 pilots.

"Perhaps management has not read about the worst influenza outbreak in recent years," he said. Delays due to sick leave were the result of "poor planning and inadequate staffing" and his union would not "condone inappropriate use of sick calls".

As of yesterday, 303 people had died and almost 1,000 had been admitted to emergency wards with flu since January 2.

A Cathay spokeswoman confirmed there had been "some consolidation and cancellation" of flights, but extra flights had been put on during the holiday. The airline carried a record 78,422 people on February 22.

"Our pilots are as likely to be affected [by flu] as the rest of the community," she said. The union "has consistently stated that calling in sick is not a tactic they condone and we take them at their word."

The spokeswoman insisted there was no evidence cancellations were related to industrial action. Hall's memo "does not suggest that a crew member who is unfit to fly should do anything but declare themselves as such".

Association members declared the work-to-rule action after rejecting management's offer of a 4 per cent pay rise for last year, followed by 3 per cent pay rises for this year and next.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Cathay bosses say pilots' sick days disrupting flights
Post