Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union officials yesterday defended a motion to expel members who served on President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) plane during June’s strike, stating that a final decision would only be taken at a meeting of the union’s board of directors next week.
The union’s representative board last month voted to strip membership from 22 members for working on June 24, including 10 who worked on the president’s plane.
“This isn’t a ‘settling of scores,’ and flight attendants on the president’s plane are not being specially targeted,” Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union secretary-general Lin Chia-wei (林佳瑋) said. “Our representative board believes that flight attendants on the president’s plane should not be given special treatment, because the company had more than 500 flight attendants who were not union members, so there were plenty of other attendants to staff the plane.”
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Tsai’s plane was the only China Airlines (CAL, 中華航空) flight unaffected after the union declared a strike on June 24 immediately before the president set off on an official trip to Latin American diplomatic allies, forcing CAL to suspend flights for several days before negotiating a settlement.
CAL agreed to increase the pay for overseas stationing under the agreement, which included “anti-freeriding” provisions limiting the new benefits to union members.
Lin said the representative board’s decision would only be finalized after the affected members had been given an opportunity to present their views at the meeting next week.
The objective of the motion was to enforce “anti-freeriding” provisions, she said, adding that expelled members would not lose any of their existing benefits.
Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union director Anderson Shen (沈家源) said that ensuring the president’s trip proceeded on schedule was no excuse for union members to work during a strike, adding that CAL had asked all the flight attendants whether they would participate in the strike before giving the assignments for the president’s plane.
Affected flight attendants have said that they were denied an opportunity to defend themselves before the motion to strip their membership was passed, adding that their decision to work was justified by the need to protect the national interest by preventing the president’s trip from being delayed.
CAL spokesperson Lu Shu-hui (魯淑惠) said that the flight attendants serving on the president’s state visit were on a diplomatic mission, adding that the company would ensure that each employee in the company receives equal treatment.
The union should also look at the situation from an objective perspective, she said.
The nation’s largest airline has approximately 3,200 flight attendants, of whom about 2,600 are members of the Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union.
The CAL Employees’ Union also issued a statement, saying that it was sorry to hear that the Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union would cancel the memberships of the 22 employees who did not go on strike.
“Workers have the right to express their opinion,” CAL Employees’ Union president Chung Chia-shi (鍾家璽) said, adding that his union has never canceled the membership of any employee because of a difference of opinion.
Chung said the 22 employees are also members of the CAL Employees’ Union and his group would make sure that their interests would be protected, adding that it would demand that the company follow the principle of “equal pay for equal work” in its treatment of employees.
A flight attendant who served on the president’s flight has filed an appeal with the Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union.
“The task was part of the nation’s special diplomatic mission, with the president being the leader of the delegates. It was different from service on a regular flight and the flight attendants serving such a mission should not be considered to be going against the union’s decision to strike,” she said.
She said that the cabin crew on the president’s flight could not be replaced at the last minute due to national security concerns.
Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) urged CAL to do its utmost to safeguard the rights and interests of the 22 flight attendants.
“The Ying Hsiang Project (英翔專案) was a diplomatic mission. We think there is no reason the cabin crew participating in the project, who gave their unreserved dedication to the nation, should be subjected to unfair treatment,” Huang said. “We advise China Airlines to do everything in its power to protect the rights and interests of these flight attendants.”
Additional reporting by Stacy Hsu
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