No Breakthrough In Talks With Cathay: Union

Cathay Pacific's Flight Attendants Union said on Thursday that it was disappointed there had been no breakthrough during a fourth round of talks with management over its restructuring plan.

The union wants the loss-making airline to consider its proposals for a longer unpaid leave scheme, or to allow crews to work part time in order to reduce the number of potential layoffs as much as possible.

If layoffs are inevitable, the union said, the airline should first introduce a voluntary redundancy scheme with compensation terms better than what is required under labour laws.

Cathay and its sister airline Cathay Dragon did not apply for the second round of the government's employment support scheme, paving the way for them to reduce staff following heavy losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is expected that Cathay will announce details of its restructuring plan soon.

Speaking to reporters after Thursday's talks, union chairwoman Zuki Wong said the managers who met them only promised to discuss the ideas put forward with senior management.

"The only consensus between us is to put redundancy as the last option," Wong said.

But she said the union was disappointed that the company still hasn't indicated if it will consider any of the proposals and that director of service delivery, Alex McGowan, did not attend the meeting as promised.