Pilots demand right to resign

As of Sunday, about 400 pilots had signed an online open letter demanding that restrictions that prevent pilots from resigning be canceled.

The paper-version of the letter with the signatures of some 180 pilots was sent to the Civil Aviation Administration of China on Friday, one of the campaign's initiators said on Sunday.

At present, because pilots receive special training, they are unable to end their labor contracts unless they compensate their employers.

However, this means that in some cases, airline companies have the power to prevent pilots from resigning by demanding huge amounts of compensation, and can even prevent them from finding other employers. The letter called on aviation authorities to revoke these regulations and replace them with standardized procedures and compensation.

"Compensation usually ranges from more than 1 million yuan ($163,400) to 3 million yuan. Some airline companies even ask a pilot for 10 million yuan in compensation. In fact, the training cost only amounts to up to 1.2 million yuan for an experienced pilot," said Zhao Hong, the initiator of the campaign.

Zhao is a former captain with the Chongqing branch of Air China. It took him three years of court battles to end his contract with Air China.

This July, Zhao reached a consensus with the company to end the contract under the mediation of a local court. Zhao said he was lucky to only have to pay 60,000 yuan to cover insurance offered by his former employer over the past three years.

The Beijing Times reported on Sunday that since 2005, there have been more than 1,000 lawsuits relating to resignations by pilots.

"In such lawsuits, air companies think their rights and benefits can't be protected properly. But pilots believe their labor rights are being violated," Zhang Qihuai, Zhao's lawyer, told the Global Times on Sunday. "Both sides are unpleasant."

China National Radio reported that an anonymous person from a large airline company said the letter did not follow industry processes or legal procedures, which might impact the whole industry and the companies involved, and could impact flight safety. The anonymous source said the matter should be solved calmly.

Being a pilot is a special career and it can't be treated as normal labor, Liu Guangcai, a professor with the Economics and Management College of the Civil Aviation University of China, told the Global Times on Sunday, adding that a pilot needs about eight years of practice.

"With the rapid development of China's aviation sector, China is in great need of pilots. Frequent resignations will bring about negative influences on the management of airline companies," Liu said.

"It's understandable for such companies to place limits on pilots' resignations."

The common labor laws are not very suitable for them, it's necessary for China's authorities to make a pilot law to deal with labor disputes involving pilots, Zhang added.