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Home  >  cathay pacific  >  Cathay Pacific Will Bypass “Outdated” Union, Negotiate Directly With Flight Attendants
cathay pacific

Cathay Pacific Will Bypass “Outdated” Union, Negotiate Directly With Flight Attendants

Matthew Klint Posted onNovember 27, 2020 11 Comments

In a move that could form a blueprint for other airlines, Cathay Pacific will no longer negotiate with the union representing its flight attendants over pay and benefits. Instead, it will go directly to flight attendants.

Cathay Pacific Will No Longer Recognize Flight Attendant Union

Cathay Pacific calls negotiating with the Flight Attendants Union (FAU) an “outdated practice” that is more suited for the 1970s than 2020. Going forward, Cathay Pacific will negotiate directly with staff via digital platforms and refuse to even recognize the “old fashioned confrontational legacy practices.”

Jeanette Mao, Cathay Pacific’s General Manager of In-Flight Service noted:

“The time has come to move on from outdated practices that were designed back in the 1970s, which are simply not right or relevant for the modern world…

“I’m afraid recently we have seen the FAU be influenced by input from outside parties who are not Cathay employees, and who do not appear to have the company’s best interest at heart.”

The communication was via video to employees and reviewed by Danny Lee of the South China Morning Post.

Why now? A “year-end negotiation” traditionally takes place around this time, in which unions attempt to secure pay raises, bonus, and more favorable working conditions. Cathay Pacific has made clear, in part due to its losses stemming from the pandemic, that it would not be entertaining any bonus conversations this year.

An FAU representative called the matter a very bad precedent not just for Cathay Pacific, for “all enterprises.”

“The format of negotiation is never outdated or old fashioned. It is a way for both parties to come together to work together for harmonious labour relations, it is never confrontational, it has proved useful.

“What Cathay Pacific is doing is setting very bad precedence for all enterprises by removing our collective bargaining power.”

But a Cathay Pacific spokesperson noted:

“We are fully committed to listening to our crew community – we respect them and their views enormously. We will be adopting new ways of hearing feedback and suggestions from our crew members direct and in real time, at any time throughout the year.”

Hong Kong does not have a law which guarantees collective bargaining agreements.

CONCLUSION

The move is bold, but not surprising. Cathay Pacific engaged in similar action in October with the union representing its pilots. Staff will still have a process through which to report grievances and seek concessions, but a new forum of direct engagement may intimidate staff to actually speak up.

image: Cathay Pacific

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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11 Comments

  1. Don Reply
    November 27, 2020 at 11:32 am

    Really clever. Hope it starts a trend.

    It’s 2020, it’s so easy to communicate directly to employees, there is no reason for collective bargaining.
    (and I say that as someone who is generally pro-union).

    If people aren’t smart enough to get their best terms, and need someone to represent them….
    Yikes.

  2. Christian Reply
    November 27, 2020 at 12:40 pm

    That’s some pretty intense irony: Hong Kong is moving drastically to the political left (whether they like it or not) while the company intentionally bypasses the duly elected employee leadership. Weird.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 27, 2020 at 12:42 pm

      Would you say to the left or to the red/authoritarianism? It’s a circle and at one point the two ends meet. But the irony is noted.

      • Christian Reply
        November 27, 2020 at 1:41 pm

        Communism is supposed to believe in the collective over the individual. Unions theoretically embody the collective. You could argue that going against unions is akin to attacking communism itself.

  3. Jance Reply
    November 27, 2020 at 12:42 pm

    Your right-wing anti-worker fever dream fantasy. Sounds like a dictate from the thugs Beijing. No surprise you’re drooling over any opportunity to stick it to a worker.

  4. JoEllen Reply
    November 27, 2020 at 2:52 pm

    Employees that are not unionized are basically at the mercy of the employer. The employer wants to cut hours, wages, benefits – that’s what you’re going to get – no amount of “listening” to employees is going to change the mind of powerful people at the top or what they want to take away, modify or dumb down.

    Even at the workers’ lower levels, you need only to get a supervisor (ie., someone put into place because they kissed someone’s rear end) who is hateful, vindictive, power-tripping, and usually unkowlegable, etc. and once again, you’re at their mercy (or lack of mercy). Maybe they just don’t like you for whatever reason so you’ll be treated badly or worse – summarily dismissed with no explanation or real cause or trumped up lies. No surprise if the few unionized airlines left go the same route as Cathay – simply refuse to negotiate with unions. This is what they all want – no voice from employees, just show up, shut up and do the job.

    • cargocult Reply
      November 27, 2020 at 9:44 pm

      If workers are so powerless against employers, why do they get paid at all? Why don’t employers simply enslave them?

  5. henry LAX Reply
    November 27, 2020 at 4:20 pm

    fine by me. CX wants to self castrate, be my guest.

    I heard SQ execs are cracking Don Perignon as we speak upon hearing that their idiotic rival up north in the Fourth Corona Reich is willing to go full eunuch mode and let SQ earn more than their fair share of the pie.

  6. Nor V Reply
    November 28, 2020 at 3:41 am

    Tell me if you would represent yourself in a court of law? Of course not you are not a lawyer.
    The company has money to hire the best lawyers. What do you have? You would be a fool to not have the union represent your interests. Have you herd of, “DIVIDE AND CONQUER”.

  7. derek Reply
    November 28, 2020 at 11:08 am

    While I am not a militant union supporter, here’s an example of how the little guy doesn’t have a chance.

    Doctors are banned from unionizing for the most part. For example, Medicare will not allow an orthopedic surgeon union to negotiate the price of a hip surgery. The AMA does represent orthopedic surgeons and has practically no such members. Besides, the AMA doesn’t negotiate prices. Medicare just dictates the price and cuts it some years. In contrast, the supermarket lobby has been successful in having food stamps pay the full price for food.

    Hospitals do have clout. If a hospital owns a medical practice, it can charge a facility fee while others cannot. So in a medical building, one office can charge it but the neighboring medical office not affiliated and owned by a hospital cannot. Medicare pays this facility fee.

    Disclaimer: I am not an orthopedic surgeon or connected with groceries but I did sit next to an orthopedic surgeon once on United, I think.

    • derek Reply
      November 28, 2020 at 11:10 am

      Typo. .AMA does NOt represent

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