Cathay Pacific warns workers against protesting at its Hong Kong International Airport offices on union’s orders

Confederation of Trade Unions has called for protest at Cathay City, the airline’s headquarters near the airport

Airline orders staff to report to work as usual, insisting that court injunction on airport security includes its operations hub

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Cathay Pacific told its employees on Saturday the company has “zero tolerance for any support of, or any participation in, illegal activities”. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 8:30pm, 24 Aug 2019Updated: 11:44pm, 24 Aug 2019

Cathay Pacific issued a stern warning to its employees on Saturday, ordering them to ignore a call to protest at its offices on Monday at Hong Kong airport because of a court injunction order.

In an internal document, Tom Owen, the airline’s director of people, told employees to report to work on Monday “as normal and remain professional”.

Owen wrote: “I want to reiterate that the Cathay Pacific Group has zero tolerance for any support of, or any participation in, illegal activities.”

The pro-democracy Confederation of Trade Unions (CTU) called for a protest at Cathay City, the operations hub of the city’s flag carrier, after the airline on Wednesday sacked Rebecca Sy On-na, the head of the Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Flights Attendants’ Association.

Sy on Thursday said the company’s management questioned her about Facebook posts before she was fired. One of Sy’s posts expressed outrage over the shock resignations of Rupert Hogg, Cathay Pacific’s chief executive, and the airline’s chief customer and commercial officer.

(L-R) Carol Ng, head of the Confederation of Trade Unions, Rebecca Sze, chair of Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Flight Attendants Association, and Lee Cheuk-yan, the CTU secretary on Friday. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

“This is white terror by Cathay Pacific trying to silence its employees and erode their freedom of speech,” said Lee Cheuk-yan, the general secretary of the CTU, using “white terror” to refer to the alleged suppression of political dissent.