A 'significant majority' of Cathay Pacific flight attendants and ground staff have signed up for unpaid leave despite appeals from key staff unions not to agree to the deal yet, senior airline sources said last night.
However, only a small percentage of pilots have said 'yes' to unpaid leave since Monday's formal issuing of the offer, which both the Flight Attendants Union (FAU) and Aircrew Officers Association (AOA) have refused to endorse, the sources said.
The airline announced last Friday that it wanted all staff at Cathay Pacific and Dragonair to agree to take unpaid leave of between one and four weeks depending on seniority after reporting a 22.4 per cent year-on-year drop in first-quarter turnover.
The AOA said an original deadline of April 30 for staff to sign up was extended yesterday until May 10 for pilots, while the airline sources said an extension was being considered for all staff.
The 5,000-member FAU has urged its members not to accept unpaid leave, saying it is concerned about a number of legal and labour issues and unhappy that apparent 'sweeteners' have been offered to pilots to sign but not cabin crew.
The AOA has also appealed to its members not to sign up yet for the deal, which in its case has been linked to new conditions that extend pilots' retirement age from 55 to 65.
Discussions between management and AOA representatives over the complex deal remained deadlocked last night, with airline executives understood to have indicated that the retirement age offer may be withdrawn if not enough cockpit crew agree to take unpaid leave.
