Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific cabin crew union threatens work-to-rule action on Lunar New Year in ultimatum to management

The cabin crew union of Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways on Friday issued an ultimatum to management and threatened that if no serious talks were set up, it would not rule out taking industrial action over Lunar New Year. The 3,000-strong Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union said it had only met management three times this year, but bosses had not addressed their concerns about adequate rest and manpower issues. “The FAU has raised serious concerns about cabin crew exhaustion and passenger well-being, but since Cathay management has refused to act, we have no choice but to resort to industrial action,” union vice-chairwoman Grace Siu Wing-yan said. “We want to avoid restrictions over Lunar New year. It is entirely avoidable if Cathay agrees to address our reasonable and rational concerns.” The union has warned staff cuts could impact customer safety as crew “may be unable to adequately respond to inflight emergencies”. Last week the union said members at an emergency meeting earlier this month had unanimously agreed to support a decision to implement a “work-to-rule” industrial action, but did not give a time frame of when it would begin.<br/>