Last minute Cathay Pacific deal averts industrial action
Cathay Pacific and its flight attendants agreed on a proposal to improve work arrangements on Thursday, ending a three-week dispute and avoiding industrial action over Christmas.
Cathay Pacific and its flight attendants agreed on a proposal to improve flight patterns and other work arrangements on Thursday afternoon, ending a three-week dispute and avoiding industrial action over Christmas.
The airline’s management and Cathay Pacific Flight Attendants Union both signed an agreement at the end of a one-hour meeting on Thursday afternoon.
We are very happy we have finally come to mutual agreement following two days of talks
Earlier, a round of talks lasting 20 hours that had begun on Wednesday had not proved fruitful. The union had threatened to launch a work-to-rule as early as Friday if their employers did not respond to a new proposal they put forward.
Union chairwoman Dora Lai Yuk-sim said after the latest meeting that the airline had accepted a new proposal that would improve a cross-base work arrangement, flight patterns and the so-called “red-eye flights”.
“We are very happy we have finally come to mutual agreement following two days of talks,” she said.
The agreement, which will be effective for two years starting January, will restrict the increase of non-local cabin crews to no more than 15 per cent.