I am writing in response to John Findlay's letter on behalf of the pilots' union (South China Morning Post, August 10). Mr Findlay claims that the union is not aiming to disrupt passengers and has a go at Cathay Pacific management for their 'blunt refusals' to hold talks. He claims the union is simply after better pay and rostering. The whole point of the industrial action is to disrupt passengers and thus Cathay Pacific. If the pilots were really so concerned for passengers and did not wish to take industrial action as Mr Findlay states, perhaps he could explain why the union does not meet the basic criteria Cathay management have laid down to start negotiations, namely the immediate cessation of industrial action. Mr Findlay says the airline has twice forced pilots into new contracts. He fails to mention that the last new contract, imposed in July last year, resulted in a minimum four per cent increase in pay for all pilots and improved benefits packages, as reported in the Post at the time. It may interest your readers to know that a recently planned strike by Air New Zealand pilots, where the dispute was over job security as the airline changes its structure, was called off as a sign of good faith by the union. It is a pity that the Cathay Pacific pilots seem interested in only advancing their own agenda and seem to believe that good-faith bargaining means damaging the company that pays their very good wages. ANNE STEELE Auckland, New Zealand