ATV Turns Off Sunday Lunch News, Summer Strike Season Begins
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Summer Strike Season Begins
The 6,000 members of Cathay Pacific’s Flight Attendants Union (FAU) have asked management for a uniform pay increase. Attendants who have completed their initial three-year contracts move from $144.70 per hour to $159.30 per hour, whereas staff who signed an earlier contract received a raise to $176.80. Other demands are a reinstatement of a legal protection clause regarding on-duty work incidents, and the reversal of cuts to lunch allowances for staff flying to Melbourne. The FAU has staged a “marathon sit-in” at Terminal 1 of Chek Lap Kok and is threatening a two-week strike in August, their first since 1993. The airline has said that it will reinstate legal protection and lower lunch allowance cuts, but maintained that staff getting a 10 percent rise was already “a desirable arrangement.” Earlier this month a threatened strike by Cathay pilots resulted in them being offered an 8 percent rise over two years.
Our take: It wouldn’t be a Hong Kong summer without a strike or six!
ATV Turns Off Sunday Lunch News
Embattled station ATV has announced that its 12:30 Sunday news program has “temporarily” stopped as of May 18. There has been no notice when the program will resume, or whether the program will resume at all. Last month, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So said that ATV is legally required to maintain its level of service until the expiration of its license, saying that “if they really cannot continue to operate, they could consider surrendering their license.” ATV has yet to file an application to terminate its license.
Our take: The news at 12:30: There is no news at 12:30.
Civil Service Not Happy With Their Pay Rise
An annual government study has recommended pay increases for civil servants of up to 4.12 percent, much lower than last year’s 5.96 percent rate. Civil service unions proposed a raise of 6 percent instead, fearing that the recommended increases would be a “fatal blow to the already very low staff morale” and pointing out that the government’s rises did not keep pace with inflation. The government’s Pay Trend Survey Committee chairman Wilfred Wong pointed out that the results of the study were in line with the trends of the private sector.
Our take: Can the civil service strike? ‘Cause it’s summer strike season!