‘Dragon Air, Never Fair!
Dragon Air, ‘Squeezing Until No Air!’
Throughout this year, the media coverage of labour struggles in Asia has given a large focus to workers’ struggles for wages – in China, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Cambodia – especially in the export manufacturing sector. Yet the service workers in major multinational corporations face similar battles for dignity and for a democratic say in their work conditions - even higher-skilled workers who are regarded as relatively well-paid and stable and respected in their employment, such as airline crew, teachers and instructors, and health care workers. With little thought to the workers, employers ever more easily increase the workloads and workplace safety risks they have to bear.
The union of Hong Kong Dragon Airlines flight attendants is one group that has recently reached the limits of their tolerance; this article gives a brief look at their struggle to defend their basic work conditions and dignity. In their struggle we are able to see that indeed, ‘encouraging’ the employer to be humane and any amount of talking nicely cannot compare with a group of workers united and prepared to exercise their legal right to withhold their labour. In a favourable legal context (in Hong Kong – a legal strike can be conducted by a union any time after the strike vote), workers would be remiss not to claim back their rights through persistent organizing and a united preparation to challenge – rather than only plea with – the employer.
‘It feels like we have no choice at all, to reject if we get a call to go on flight duty the next day. It is like we don’t even have the right to know our own roster schedule!’ – said a flight attendant during the Emergency General Meeting of the Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Flight Attendants Association (FAA) on 19 August 2010. The meeting had been called to discuss how to proceed after the company kept rejecting their demands, and take a vote on whether to strike if the company still refused. In the meeting, spirits were high, after an energizing rally at the airport just two weeks earlier – the first industrial action taken in Dragon Airlines in the 25 years since its establishment. At the same time, male and female flight attendants present also expressed bitterness, offence and confusion at the airline for its wilful and intransparent handling of policies regarding work time, rostering of flight duty, and lack of any compensation for changes at short notice without the staff’s consent.
In the last several years, complaints of the flight attendants had been increasing, with many of the grievances being due to the shortage of staffing and resulting impositions by the management on the existing staff.
The union officers went through, one by one, the 13 points on which the union had confronted the management and demanded clarity and corrective action. (The six major grievances are listed in the Box on p. 20, ‘Major Points of Dispute’.) After explaining the points and soliciting union members’ views, the union officers summed up, saying that one of the most bottom-line points was ‘carry-on duty’ – unrostered flights that some are asked to work upon their return to the airline’s home base in Hong Kong. The union demanded that flight attendants be allowed to refuse to accept carry-on duties.
MAJOR POINTS OF DISPUTE Carry-on duty: Flying Time Period (FTP) x 5, at $59/hour. But is it after ‘open door’ or after ‘sign in’ (different stages of pre-flight preparation)? We need clarification. And most importantly, carry-on duty must get the staff’s consent first; right now it seems that staff have no choice, but must simply do as told, when they get a call from management to do carry-on. ‘Minus crew’: when staff are short, others need to cover for them and work extra to cope with the shortage. When this happens, other staff get HK$80/per missing staff person. But the union members would rather have less ‘minus crew’ (i.e. less understaffed flights), instead of this small amount of money. With such a small amount, of course the company opts to pay ‘minus crew’ to save money rather than hire enough staff. Extra overtime pay for staff when they have to work on rest days; and it should be voluntary (i.e., with staff’s consent). Review the pay structure/scale; the fruits of the labour should be shared with the staff. Baggage handling: company should define ‘assist’. There is a working group about the baggage handling issue, but with no cabin crew on the group, only senior staff and the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) on it. Minimum rest: this is important – allow at least certain amount of break before rostering more time. The Roster Working Group also has no one from the union as a member in it; it should include union member(s). |
‘We rely on the roster to arrange our personal life, but up to half of our roster could end up being changed, and we don’t get prior notice most of the time,’ said Winnie Poon, the Chairperson of the FAA.
The other main problem was about baggage handling – staff are required to assist, but what is ‘assisting’? It is not clear. The union said the company should enforce the rule that putting up baggage in the overhead cabins which is over the weight limit should be the passenger’s responsibility to lift and store above – not the flight attendants’.
Finally the union members cast their votes – about 150-odd union members came for the meeting, but including proxy votes, the total number of votes was 467. All except for one, agreed that the company’s ‘offer’ was unacceptable, and 464 of the 467 members agreed to take industrial action in case the company did not take serious measures to solve the issues, while only three members disagreed with taking industrial action.
Chairperson Winnie Poon said to the media that the first demand of theirs was the respect of the company. The union knew well that the company was reaping big profits, yet the workers hadn’t had any raise in salary for years. Yet she did not offer an actual proposed date for the strike action, hoping that the company would re-open communications to settle the problems
|
The union also heard supporting statements from other Hong Kong unions. Dora Lai Yuk-sim, the Chairwoman of Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants’ Union, said, ‘The key point is, there should be much more penalty for understaffing! The ‘minus crew’ (payment to other staff who must bear extra work, when the flight crew is below the necessary number, which is HK$80 per staff member short) is so little, of course the company will always opt for it. The point is the company wants to exploit your tolerance, to pass through the peak season without hiring more crew!’
A Dragon Air union member burst out in response, ‘If the flight attendant gets a call, they have to go, and if the staff says no, they need to explain why – this implies that it’s not a choice, but it should be our decision! And [the understaffing] is not safe for us! The company can pay a few hundred dollars less, but it’s dangerous to let a flight be understaffed, the staff who are on duty have to do so much extra work and will easily get hurt!’
Lee Cheuk-yan, General Secretary of the Hong Kong Confederations of Trade Unions (HKCTU), reminded the union members of the importance of staying united. It was their united strength that would get them a victory; without it, any gain would be hard to get, and easily undermined. Their unity is what would make a strike successful, if really launched. Of course if a strike is called and most union members return to work, it would just destroy the union. It would be a brave and hard step to strike, as many workers would fear losing their jobs. But in Hong Kong law, their jobs would be protected if they are union members. In Hong Kong, there is no law to require employers to collective bargain with a registered union – yet the ironic benefit of this, is that Hong Kong also has no ‘cooling-off’ period after a strike vote, before they can launch a strike; thus they can keep an element of surprise, and also, importantly, can avoid the employers using the ‘cooling-off period’ to aggressively threaten the workers to deter them from their action! This is a vacancy in the Hong Kong law which works to the advantage of unions. ‘As long as you have strong unity and determination, the strike can succeed!’, he said.
Dragon Air flight attendants hold mass protest to air their grievances against the company, at the Hong Kong International Airport on 6 August 2010. Within a month afterwards, a hundred new members joined the union. Photo: HKCTU
UPDATE OF THE STRUGGLE
After hours of negotiation on consecutive days, on 21 August 2010, the union agreed to suspend its plan to strike, after coming to a resolution with the company about their demands.
The airline agreed to immediately hire 50 more flight attendants; and, as a temporary measure, operate selected flights as charter operations staffed with other airlines’ cabin crews. The deal ending the weeks-long dispute came after a 13-hour meeting that ended at 4 a.m.
The company also agreed to accept five out of six proposals on working hours and conditions put forward earlier by the Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Flight Attendants Association.
The airline will offer an extra HK$1,000 allowance for flight attendants that volunteer to work on rest days.
Five times the regular hourly rate will be paid to cabin staff on top of their basic salary if they have carry-on duty.
And if a flight is run with a cabin crew member short of the full complement (‘minus crew’), nine times the crew member’s hourly rate will be shared among the remaining crew members as compensation for working short-handed. Dragon Air also agreed to set up a roster system review working group, which would include members from the union, as the roster system has been a major cause of discontent among the aircrew.
Though the FAA regrets not getting the company’s agreement that cabin crew should only take on carry-on duty if they have consented to it, rather than be obliged to do it, as they are now; however, the FAA believes that with the above concessions from the management, the need for carry-on duty would drop significantly.
THE INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS SUEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE DRAGON AIRLINES FLIGHT ATTENDANTS ASSOCIATION AMRC: The energy and turnout of your union members is quite impressive. How many members are there in your union, and out of how many total staff is that? Chris Suen: Dragon Air has 1,256 staff, and 830 of them are our union members. But Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants’ Union, which gives us a lot of support, is one of the strongest unions in Hong Kong. They have 5,000 members. Since we took over the Executive Committee six years ago, we’ve gone from 40% of the union rate to 60-70%. That is because two weeks ago (on 6 August), we held Dragon Air Union’s first industrial action. We put ads everywhere including on Facebook. 150 replied to confirm, but we were so surprised that 400 people came. This taught us that union members it is actions taken by the union that gets members! In the past one month, 100 new members joined! This was impossible before, to get 100 new members in one month. AMRC: But is it also because the working conditions now are worse than before? Have you found any trend like that? Chris Suen: Actually now is not the worst time I have experienced in Dragon Air. No, the meanness of the company has been similar before. But the reaction of our post-80’s members1 to it is different. I’ve noticed it. During my nine years, now has not been the worst time. AMRC: So has that made it easy to organize the staff, having more post-80’s members? Chris Suen: It’s not really easy to organize, as 1) we have a tight schedule and we cannot really meet members except in-flight. And 2) the Dragon Air flight attendants union is 21 years old; it was established in 1989, and our members are a bit split between old style and new style. It’s our education in Hong Kong, I think. We are well-molded to follow instructions. So, older union members tend to be more obedient, but one thing I think that has made us come to this point now is that there are more young people; I really feel the post-80s generation are more motivated and willing to challenge others. It’s their own culture and educational background. AMRC: Usually how do you recruit union members? Chris Suen: It is hard to meet them except on flights. Still, we try to organize social activities. Also new staff in the airline get induction training. At that time, we can come and recruit among the new staff. AMRC: How much support do you get from other unions in Hong Kong? Chris Suen: The support of other unions to us is very important. Our union is one of four unions in the Hong Kong Flight Attendants Association. Besides us, Cathay Pacific, United Air and British Airways´ Hong Kong-based crew unions are there. We have quarterly activities there, where all the flight attendants’ unions meet. Also HKCTU gives us a lot of support. When we were new (newly elected into the Executive Committee), HKCTU and HKFAA gave training to us, about negotiating, and on collective bargaining. AMRC: What are the elements, in your opinion that have helped Dragon Air union to be stronger? Chris Suen: One important factor is the percentage of members. Building up enough members so that members don’t feel isolated, but rather part of a strong group among the staff, makes a big difference. The other is, the policies imposed by the company unilaterally make the staff more and more angry. When the union reacts on the behalf of staff, it shows staff that the union is defending them. People actually would not join, if there is no problem! In the traditional view of unions that is common in Hong Kong, unions are for getting groups discounts, and having yearly banquets of snake soup… But there are some staff who will just never join our union. Mostly those are upper level staff, the ‘dual crew’. The ‘dual crew’ perform dual duty as a normal flight attendant and a office worker. They are required to do on-board duty several days a week, and work in the office the rest of the time. They consider themselves to be like management. And there are also some staff who are just selfish, I believe. They get the benefits which our union has fought for, but they do not join our collective action or contribute with their fees. In Dragon Air FAA, the dues are HK$50 (US$6.40) per month. It is hard to do much with low dues; so we have no office of our own, nor any full-time staff… AMRC: How about your union’s collaboration with other unions, outside your sector? Chris Suen: We have gone before to support the workers on the Airport Express (high speed train to the airport) when they had a struggle going on, and some other unions. But it is hard to mobilize members for solidarity with groups that are much different. Still, HKCTU always informs us of the struggles that are going on in Hong Kong, and we try to support them. Note 1. In Hong Kong, the term ‘post-80s’ became a buzzword especially after many politically unaffiliated, media-savvy young people, born after the 1980s, joined protests and demonstrations in 2009 against the eviction of the Choi Yuen Tsuen residents in Hong Kong to make way for a HK$66 billion (approx. US$8.5 billion) high speed rail linking Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The movement’s upsurge via internet websites and lack of a clear leader confounded analysts and invited comparison with the mass South Korean protests against US beef imports in 2009. |
| Tel: (852) 2332-1346 | Fax: (852) 2385-5319 | Feedback | Sitemap
