Hong Kong -

Employees worldwide desire the protection of lifetime employment, a so-called “iron rice bowl” that can never break and can’t be taken away. But in China it’s this very kind of lifetime employment that airline pilots are trying to end. One problem, though, is that even when pilots succeed at leaving their jobs they can be forced to pay vast sums to employers on the way out.

In recent months the grievances of Chinese pilots have received wide-spread publicity due to strikes staged against their employers, and the unfair treatment they have received in the newly-liberalized aviation industry.

Adding insult to injury, a slew of court verdicts has ordered the pilots to pay millions to terminate their employment contracts.

On Thursday, Air China agreed to let six pilots in its Zhejiang branch go, but only after it knew it would collect between 1.29 million yuan ($185,612) and 1.7 million yuan ($244,604) from each, in a closely-followed dispute. Two months ago one Air China pilot fainted upon hearing a verdict that ordered him to pay 2.1 million yuan ($302,158) for his resignation.

Also, Chinese pilots have seen their careers suspended and salary halted for up to three years as local courts dealt with their resignations; the airlines inevitably sought legal protection, citing the vast sums they invested in training the pilots. Worse, the law is on the airlines’ side: resignations from Chinese pilots are effective only if their employer agrees to it.

The problem is that the Chinese government controls all four major airlines—Air China, China Southern, China Eastern and Hainan Airlines—and keeps a tight leash on pilots, in much the way it runs the military. In fact, Chinese airlines enlist pilots from the military. This is despite 2004’s market liberalization, which allows small privately-run airlines to set up shop, and compete.

A boom in China tourism also creates an acute shortage for pilots, making them too precious a property to lose. Despite this, pressure from long working hours, intense overtime, and laxness in management and safety issues arising from recent consolidation has prompted an exodus of pilots from the state-owned sector to small, privately-run aviation startups.

Short of resignation, Chinese pilots have sought to get attention through strikes, mass sick leaves, and hunger strike. In one extreme maneuver, on March 20, China Eastern Airlines pilots disrupted 31 flights by flying back to their take-off point, just minutes after departure. The pilots were unhappy about a new, high tax on a formerly tax-free portion of their income and for being put under the loss-making Shanghai parent airline after a 2004 nationwide industry shakeout..

While almost all Chinese state-controlled airlines have disgruntled pilots, loss-making China Eastern seem to have particular problems. A branch in northwestern China was blamed for three waves of mass resignations since 2004 and in one tally, more than two-third of a 70-plus pilot team had tried to resign.