Cathay Pacific yesterday sacked a captain and two other pilots in a move the aircrew union believes is aimed at forcing pilots to end their industrial action over pay and rosters.
The captain, a union member with 11 years' service, was sacked for failing to show up for a delay-plagued Los Angeles flight on Tuesday without a satisfactory reason. Cathay spokesman Tony Tyler said he committed a 'serious breach' of his employment conditions.
One of the other pilots, a first officer, was also on board the Los Angeles flight. He was a member of the pilots' union committee.
The third pilot, also a first officer, was not a member of the union. All were given three-months' pay in lieu of notice.
The committee member was aboard what was supposed to have been a non-stop flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. It detoured to Vancouver and Osaka because crew were due for rest breaks and arrived five hours late.
A pilot source said staff believed Cathay wanted to make an example of him in a bid to convince colleagues to call off their campaign. 'A couple of weeks ago, a senior manager said 'what we need to do is sack 20 or 30 of them and the rest will get the message',' the source said. Cathay denies the comments.
