Cathay boss Ivan Chu opens door to talk on pay raise issue

A stand-off between Cathay Pacific and its flight attendants union softened yesterday when the management appeared to change its attitude on the possibility of further talks over next year's pay rise and other issues.

But a source familiar with the matter said the union would go ahead with its plans for industrial action - a work-to-rule or provision of limited services - around next Friday if the management did not state clearly its willingness to drop all preconditions for resuming talks.

The airline had stressed several times that for it to return to the table, the Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union must drop its plans for industrial action and exclude next year's pay rises from the agenda.

Cathay has announced a 2 per cent raise for cabin crew, but the union is seeking 5 per cent.

Yesterday the airline's chief operating officer, Ivan Chu Kwok-leung, took questions on whether it was willing to withdraw any of the preconditions.

Chu did not reply directly, but repeated a few times: "Our door to discussions is always open. We are actively hoping that we can talk to the union about these issues. There are no topics we cannot discuss together."