The Cathay Pacific flight attendants' union has withdrawn acceptance of a pay deal less than a week after agreeing to it.
Union leaders accused management of 'union busting' by bypassing them and dealing directly with staff.
Union officials said the company asked staff last week to return acceptance letters directly to management.
This came after the union accepted company proposals to scrap this year's unconditional pay rise in exchange for a 3.5 per cent increase for four extra hours of work per month.
'We feel like they used us,' said Flight Attendants' Union chairwoman Becky Kwan Siu-wa. 'They got many more letters back after we announced we accepted their offer, but now they're basically negating our role.
'They want to take away the rights of the union.' But airline officials said they were obliged to gain individual consent under a 1997 amendment to the Employment Ordinance. 'We have no intention of bypassing the union,' said company spokeswoman Quince Chong Wai-yan.