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Veteran Hong Kong protester Becky Kwan on her struggles as leader of Cathay Pacific union

As chairwoman of the Hong Kong airline’s Flight Attendants Union, Kwan fought tooth and nail for employee rights and against managerial injustices.

She earned herself a reputation as a fearless thorn in the side of executives

Reading Time:9 minutes

Becky Kwan (front row, far left) with Cathay Pacific colleagues in the late 1970s. Photo: Becky Kwan

Published: 3:00pm, 4 Aug 2019Updated: 9:42am, 5 Aug 2019

Lost somewhere in the crowds swarming the streets of Hong Kong every weekend through a long, hot summer of unrest is the diminutive figure of a veteran protester who understands better than most the importance of perseverance in fighting what appear to be lost causes.

“Like everybody, I am devastated about what has happened,” says Becky Kwan Siu-wa. “I have been on every march, but I can only support them with my feet. I cannot allow myself to be in a situation where it will endanger my safety.

“We must not give up. We must have faith in righteousness and justice. The most important thing is to keep up the positive energy. That is what gives us the strength, the hope, the clear direction, the wisdom, the confidence and the power to face the challenges life throws at us.”

As the fiery five-foot two-inch former chairwoman of the Flight Attendants Union (FAU), Kwan, 62, has the battle scars to back up her fighting talk. It was 20 years ago when, in a different kind of struggle, she delivered a humbling lesson to the generously paid executives of Cathay Pacific: big trouble sometimes comes in small packages.

Kwan in Tsim Sha Tsui during the recent protests. Photo: Becky Kwan / Red Door News

Back in 1999, amid tumbling profits and falling passenger numbers, Cathay Pacific gave its flight attendants these options: work four extra hours a month to earn a 3.5 per cent pay rise; stay on the same pay for the same hours for another year; or sign up for voluntary redundancy.

The ultimatum presented the 4,500-strong union with a dilemma: help the airline through dark days, or fight it, and risk seeing their fellow cabin crew lose their livelihoods.

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