Nine airlines have been fined for violating labor regulations since early this month after the Ministry of Labor launched a round of inspections directed at protecting the working conditions of flight personnel.
According to a statement issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, TransAsia and China Airlines were fined for violating labor regulations capping working hours at 12 per day.
The ministry launched inspections of the nation’s airlines following the crash of TransAsia Airways Flight GE235 on Feb. 4, which prompted questions about the working hours of the flight personnel and whether they were exhausted from overwork.
Out of a total of 15 airlines in the nation, nine companies offer passenger flights and the remaining six specialize in cargo transport or other services.
Other airlines were fined for violations such as failing to provide employee attendance records or failure to hold labor-management meetings.
The companies have been subject to fines between NT$20,000 to NT$300,000 by local labor departments around the nation, the ministry said.
The ministry announced it would soon conduct further labor inspections of the 34 foreign airline companies with operations in Taiwan.
Increased labor inspections of transportation and retail industries are set to take place during the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on Thursday, the administration said.
The working conditions of flight personnel received significant media attention after China Airlines employees launched a string of protests over the size of their year-end bonuses and accused the company of forcing them to endure long hours and harsh working conditions.
The issue received heightened media scrutiny after the TransAsia crash, when it was revealed that the flight’s pilot had already flown to Kinmen once on the same day.
In response, China Airlines said that working hours for the aviation industry often exceed limits as a result of long overseas flights, adding that the company offers its employees NT$1,000 in compensation for hours worked in excess of the 12-hour cap.
TransAsia airlines said the company complied with standards set by the Civic Aeronautics Administration, adding that the ministry’s inspections employed different calculation methods from those set by the company.
Additional reporting by CNA
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai