Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has been asked to step in once again to help the city’s ailing flagship carrier Cathay Pacific as cabin crew accused management of lacking social responsibility in considering mass layoffs.

Cathay Pacific has said it needs to rationalize its operations to adapt to a slump in passenger numbers and recently declined to take part in a government coronavirus support program that required enterprises not to cut their headcount. The company said the restructuring of the business is “inevitable” in the fourth quarter of this year, hinting that layoffs could come any time now.

In a letter to the city’s leader, Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union said the government should forestall any cuts in headcount for the greater good of the community. Large-scale layoffs will spark a “chain reaction” in the economy, stoking the overall unemployment rate and “putting families in jeopardy,” the letter read.

The embattled carrier, one of the city’s largest employers, with 27,000 local staff, received a HK$27.3 billion (US$3.52 billion) government handout in June as air traffic slumped since Hong Kong was gripped by protests last year. It also applied for the first round of Hong Kong’s Employment Support Scheme, aimed at helping companies continue to pay their staff.

A condition of that program was that recipients were not allowed to reduce headcount.

The union was “disappointed” with the management’s decision not to apply for the second round of government subsidy as it sent a strong signal that job losses were imminent, according to Zuki Wong, the union’s chairperson. Cathay should fulfil its social responsibility as a large enterprise, and make layoffs only as a last resort and after considering other options, such as a voluntary departure program, she said.

Cathay Chief Executive Augustus Tang earlier told local media the company has to take “quick and decisive” action to avoid overstaffing amid the pandemic, which is currently costing it about HK$2 billion a month. But any restructuring would ensure that staffing levels remain adequate for meeting the market rebound when the virus goes away, he said.

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