Cathay Pacific flight attendants have backed down on their threat of a no-smiles campaign and offered to work unpaid overtime to keep their automatic pay rises.
Union leaders had considered industrial action including refusing to smile for an hour on each flight after the airline refused to give them their annual pay rise unconditionally this year.
But the Flight Attendants' Union said yesterday it wanted to work with the company to reach a compromise instead of resorting to drastic action that could hurt business.
'We want to co-operate with the company. It's more important that we solve problems and not create problems,' said union chairwoman Becky Kwan Siu-wa.
Yesterday, flight attendants offered to fly up to four hours of unpaid overtime each month, but only for this year.
A Cathay spokeswoman said company officials would try to give the union a reply today.