Coronavirus: Cathay Dragon cabin crew vote to strike but will hold off for ‘maximum impact’
- Nine in 10 union members back industrial action over airline’s response to the contagion
- Cabin crew want a moratorium on mainland China flights, CEO earlier appealed to them not to take disruptive step
Cathay Dragon’s flight attendants voted overwhelmingly for future industrial action, but dropped their threat of an immediate strike, the union revealed on Saturday afternoon.
The Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Flight Attendants Association (FAA) said it had obtained permission to hold a rally in Tung Chung for members on Sunday afternoon, where they would consult on their next steps.
Members voted 420 to 22 in favour of industrial action, with 25 abstentions. Cathay Dragon has approximately 2,000 cabin crew.
A last-ditch appeal from Cathay Pacific boss Augustus Tang Kin-wing for flight attendants at the carrier’s sister airline not to take “disruptive” action was dismissed by union chiefs as only encouraging a potential strike.
FAA chairwoman Rebecca Sy On-na, who was dismissed as a flight attendant by the company in a previous incident during the city's anti-government protests last year, said: “Although we passed the motion, we won’t strike immediately because we don’t want the company to be prepared for the strike.”
She added: “We don’t want to set a timeframe [for strike] to make it more effective.”