'Cathay Staff Take 36 Percent Pay Cut To Keep Jobs'

A union leader said Cathay Pacific staff who managed to keep their jobs for now have been told they need to take pay cuts of up to 36 percent.

Cathay's Flight Attendants Union said employees who survived the cut were given new contracts after the ailing firm announced on Wednesday it was slashing 8,500 jobs, including 5,300 Hong Kong-based positions.

The union's vice-chairwoman Amber Suen said their basic salary and hourly pay were reduced by 14 to 36 percent, with changes to other benefits. They will also have to agree to take unpaid leave going forward.

Staff are given 14 days to decide whether they accept the new package.

"The changes are really big, colleagues don't know what to do," Suen said on Thursday. She said the union countered that this should only be a new short-term contract.

Almost all staff at the now-defunct subsidiary Cathay Dragon were laid off, and its union leader, Connie Leung, said on RTHK the government should also be blamed for the mass layoffs, saying its multi-billion-dollar injection in June only saved the company, but not people's jobs.

The vice-chairwoman of the Dragon Airlines Flight Attendants Association said the public had not expected massive job losses after the government gave Cathay a lifeline worth more than HK$27 billion and appointed two observers to its board.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan said on Wednesday the restructuring was a business decision made by the loss-making carrier.