Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union Chairperson Dora Lai (Screenshot via TVB)
Cathay Pacific’s flight attendant union has decided to postpone its planned strike after signing a memorandum with the airline’s management last night.
The meeting took place at the Wan Chai Revenue Tower with the Labour Department acting as an mediator, reports Apple Daily.
Crowds of Cathay Pacific employees staged a sit-in in the building during the negotiations.
The parties plan to sign an agreement on Monday.
Negotation, interrupted
The negotiation was, however, briefly halted at 7pm when Lai left the table and joined the sit-in. She said the management abruptly changed the memorandum into an agreement, and was disappointed by this action.
Cathay Pacific later expressed their will to sign the memorandum with the Labour Department as the intermediary.
“Good Start”
Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union Chairperson Dora Lai said the memorandum is a “good start”. She added that she also appreciats the support they have received from the general public.
“We are only taking back what is we deserve”, she said.
The memorandum guarantees employees that joined in 2013, 2014 or 2015 receive an adjustment to their food allowance and no less than a 16 percent pay raise when receiving a permanent offer, among other benefits.
The management welcomed the negotiations and said “constructive opinions” were shared.
Flight attendants from Hong Kong’s flagship airline Cathay Pacific have previously threatened a summer strike if management did not scrap a new policy to reduce salaries and perks for cabin crew.
