China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) yesterday said that it has been in talks with pilots who are planning to stage a strike during the Dragon Boat Festival next month.
About 800 CAL pilots, who are unhappy with what they say is the carrier’s failure to observe an agreement to allow them to take promised days off, are planning to go on strike over the upcoming four-day holiday, traditionally a peak period for the local airline industry.
The Taoyuan Union of Pilots, which is largely composed of pilots working for CAL, said the carrier has failed to honor its promise to give 116 days off to its pilots each year and on average owes about 25 days in holidays to each pilot.
The union, which represents the 800 pilots in negotiations with CAL, accused the carrier of asking its pilots to take between-flight overseas stays as days off.
CAL said that due to rising demand in the tourism industry, the carrier is gearing up to hire new pilots to meet demand, but it is possible that the carrier will not have enough pilots in one year’s time, despite the recruitment campaign.
CAL said that it is willing to provide compensation over and above what is stipulated by the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) for pilots who do not take all of the 116 days off per year as set forth in their employment contracts.
The carrier stressed that if pilots insist on taking their days off, it will try to arrange appropriate schedules to satisfy them.
The carrier said it hopes the pilots would make passengers their top priority.
The talks with the union will continue on Tuesday, CAL said, adding that it expects to present a solution then.
CAL shares fell 0.5 percent to NT$10.05 yesterday, while the broader market closed up 0.44 percent.
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Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day