EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) yesterday said it would hold further talks with its flight attendants’ union on Wednesday next week after the two sides failed to reach an agreement during negotiations.
The union has said that it would stage a strike to back demands for better working conditions.
The union had put forward 12 proposals, but the two parties failed to reach agreement on two of its main requests, which were the same per diem payment as China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) and the “no free ride” proposal, EVA Airways spokesman Golden Kou (柯金成) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
The union was demanding the same per diem rate of US$5 per hour as CAL, which is higher than EVA’s US$3 per hour, but the union has ignored the fact that EVA pays its attendants from the minute when they check in, compared with CAL paying its employees from when the airplane takes off, Kou said.
On average, EVA attendants are paid between NT$1,600 and NT$2,000 (US$51.88 and US$64.85) per meal and receive NT$20,000 per month, which is better than the global average, the company said.
EVA has also outperformed its peers in terms of pay raises as it has raised the cabin crew salary by NT$2,000 per month for the past five years, and increased wages by between NT$3,000 and NT$4,000 this year, as well as paying a four-month year-end bonus for the past four years, Kou said.
“We should look at the whole picture when discussing flight attendants’ compensation at the talks, as their compensation is composed of salaries, per diem payments and bonuses, rather than just discussing the per diem rate,” Kou said, adding that EVA is confident that it pays its attendants better than the international standard.
The firm proposed a new calculation method that would benefit flight attendants’ welfare at the meeting yesterday, but the union insisted on raising the per diem rate, Kou said.
The union also demanded a “no free ride” proposal, which would prohibit non-union attendants from receiving the same improved conditions as union members, but EVA is unlikely to accept that proposal as it cannot offer different conditions to its employees based on union membership, Kou said.
Besides those two proposals, EVA also discussed how to improve attendants’ working hours and flight schedules on a route-by-route basis, suggesting new schedules for five routes, it said.
The five routes are the flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Phnom Penh, Tokyo, Shenyang and Beijing, China, and Kaohsiung International Airport to Tokyo, it said.
“We still hope to avoid a strike and will continue to try to reach an agreement with the union,” Kou said.
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