Cathay Pacific flight attendants have been asked to work longer hours without overtime payments or face potential lay-offs, salary cuts or loss of their bonus.
The proposal angered cabin crew who recently offered to help save the company money by staying at friends' homes instead of hotels between flights and eating untouched food from passengers' meal trays.
'We were willing to give up so much, but they insisted on increasing our flying hours from 72 hours to 80 hours a month,' said Becky Kwan Siu-wa, chairwoman of the Flight Attendants Union, which represents the airline's 5,500 attendants.
Company spokeswoman Quince Chong Wai-yan declined to discuss details of the proposal, citing ongoing negotiations.
But she said the proposal was in line with a company-wide goal of increasing productivity while controlling costs after the airline recorded a $175 million loss in the first half of this year, its first loss in 35 years.
'We anticipate continuing adverse conditions,' Ms Chong said. 'We wanted a win-win proposal.' Under the plan, flight attendants would get this year's one-month bonus and a pay rise of one to four per cent depending on their staff grade, Ms Kwan said. No forced lay-offs would be imposed for the next three years.