'Govt Must Minimise Impact Of Cathay Job Cuts'

Lawmakers from across the political spectrum on Wednesday expressed concern over the mass redundancies planned by Cathay Pacific, saying the government must not shirk its responsibility to minimise the impact of the job cuts.

Civic Party legislator Jeremy Tam said the administration, having injected almost HK$30 billion into the embattled airliner earlier this year, should ask the company to do whatever it can to retain staff.

“They can simply say, an extension of no pay leave, even indefinitely so that when the aviation industry picks up again, all these people can just go back to their positions, rather than having to look for new jobs”, Tam said.

Federation of Trade Unions lawmaker Alice Mak, meanwhile, said it is time for the administration to roll out unemployment subsidies to help those affected make ends meet.

She said it is inevitable that the layoffs will increase the city’s unemployment rate, which is already at a 16-year high of 6.4 percent.

“We have estimated that it will push up the unemployment rate by 0.2 percent. So the government cannot just neglect the impact of this layoff plan. The government should consider how to implement effective and timely measures to help those unemployed. Especially, we urge the government to launch an unemployment subsidy scheme”, Mak said.

The largest pro-establishment party in the city, the DAB, also waded in, saying the job cuts at Cathay could create a domino effect.

“I am very much afraid that Cathay Pacific’s plan is just the beginning and other large-scale companies will follow suit… I would like to urge the government to liaise with the management of Cathay Pacific to see if they can reduce the scale of the layoff plan and also do everything possible to help those affected”, DAB chairwoman Starry Lee said.

Travel sector lawmaker Yiu Si-wing, meanwhile, said it is understandable for Cathay to implement drastic cuts to reduce costs.

He said Cathay’s plight is just an example of how badly the travel industry is faring, adding that that government needs to provide more help to other major players in the sector, such as travel agencies, to help them ride out the storm.