The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union has lodged a complaint that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trip to Singapore today will require his China Airlines (CAL) airplane’s crew to work overtime.
The union, which was established in September, yesterday said that the CAL crew would have to work 20 hours straight, a violation of the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
Citing articles 42 and 37, airlines are allowed to extend the work day of flight crews to 20 hours as long as they are allowed a rotating one-hour rest in-flight, it said.
The articles stipulate that employers can extend flight crew work hours to a full 24 hours after they have had a three-hour rest in a hotel after landing, the union said.
It is ludicrous that such violations are legal under the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法), because these regulations violate Article 32 of the Labor Standards Act, which state that employers cannot extend employees’ work hours beyond 12 hours per day, the union said.
Ma’s trip to Singapore to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) highlights the absurdity of the regulations and the exploitation of flight crews, the union said.
Overtime is inevitable for transoceanic flights, the union said, adding that it has repeatedly urged the Ministry of Labor to make the Labor Standards Act the guiding regulation for short and regional flights.
While the union said that it hoped its complaint would highlight how the ministry and the Civil Aeronautics Administration disregard the health of flight crews, CAL dismissed its allegations as groundless rumors.
Ma is scheduled to leave for Singapore at 6am and fly home tonight after a dinner with Xi.
Additional reporting by CNA
This story has been updated since it was first published.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS