The Ministry of Labor yesterday rejected media reports that it was planning to revise the Act for Settlement of Labor-Management Disputes (勞資爭議處理法) to require airline unions to announce strikes beforehand.
“We have no plans for legal revisions,” Department of Employment Relations Director Wang Hou-wei (王厚偉) said, but confirmed that the ministry last month solicited the opinions of airline unions and companies on the issue.
The move was in response to demands by the Control Yuan and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to investigate a strike against China Airlines by the Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union last year, Wang said.
After receiving an approval to strike, the union launched it sooner than planned to coincide with a management transition at the airline, which reportedly hampered the company’s response and contributed to the strike’s swift success.
The ministry has not determined a timeline to consider whether to push for legal revisions, Wang said, adding that a round of discussions on the issue was held in 2011.
“Unions for water and electricity companies are required to continue providing basic services during a strike, because they work for monopolies, but unions in transportation firms do not have special strike restrictions, because consumers have other options, even if they are inconvenienced by service disruptions,” he said.
Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union secretary-general Lin Chia-wei (林佳瑋) said the ministry’s solicitation of opinions raised concerns, because requirements that strike dates be announced beforehand would tip the hands of union strategists.
“Before initiating a strike, unions are required to go through a local government mediation process and then receive approval from at least half of union members in a formal vote. In our experience, going through the process takes at least two months, so firms have plenty of time to respond,” she said.
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