The airline's offer to 49 sacked in 2001 is flawed and unacceptable, they claim
Four senior serving Cathay Pacific pilots have written to colleagues urging them to throw out a deal offered by the airline to settle the dispute involving sacked pilots known as the 49ers.
They say in a document circulated to members of the Aircrew Officers Association that the offer of 10 months' pay or an interview for a job back with Cathay is fundamentally flawed and unacceptable.
The document was sent out over the weekend ahead of today's deadline for the 49ers to let members know if they approve the offer, which is conditional on them dropping their lawsuits against Cathay.
The 49ers were sacked en masse in July 2001 during a bitter dispute between management and pilots over pay and rosters which resulted in a work-to-rule.
Members must decide before or at an extraordinary general meeting on February 15 whether to support the offer and drop all funding for the 49ers' legal actions in Britain, Australia and Hong Kong.
The letter from the four senior pilots, each of whom has been a Cathay pilot for more than 10 years, said: 'If you vote 'yes' ... you are voting to abandon those 49ers. For those men and their families, the hardship of the past 31/2 years would be wasted.'
