China Airlines yesterday reiterated its commitment to aviation safety after a pilot, who was fired by the airline for failing four alcohol tests in one day, threatened to mobilize the Taoyuan Pilots’ Union to go on strike.
“We hope the public will support China Airlines’ position in maintaining aviation safety. We also hope that other pilots will see what the matter was really about and will not be swayed by others,” China Airlines senior vice president Kao Shing-hwang (高星潢) said at a news conference.
The pilot, surnamed Fu (傅), failed the alcohol tests after reporting for duty on July 11, Gao said, adding that was the day Fu was elected acting chairman of the union.
Fu filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labor accusing the airline of violating the Labor Union Act (工會法) by engaging in unfair labor practices, Gao said.
The act is supposed to protect members of a union so that they will not be unfairly treated by their company when they participate in events organized by the union, he said.
“The ministry agreed that alcohol consumption is not a union activity and overruled Fu’s complaint,” Gao said.
After Fu reported for duty at 6:10pm on July 11 at Kaohsiung International Airport, an alcohol test was administered that showed he had a blood alcohol level of 0.084 milligrams per liter (mg/L), Gao said.
Fu was given 20 minutes to rinse his mouth and rest, followed by a second test that found his blood alcohol level was 0.117mg/L, Gao added.
He said the company later administered two additional tests using a larger machine that can generate more precise results, which measured Fu’s blood alcohol level at 0.13mg/L and 0.11mg/L.
Fu’s assignment that night was canceled immediately after the tests, Gao said, adding that Fu was subsequently fired, as his blood alcohol level had exceeded 0.1mg/L.
Just as many would agree that people should not drink and drive, nor should pilots drink and operate an airplane, and the company has enforced relevant regulations for years, he said.
China Airlines will not bend the rules simply because Fu is a union member, Gao said, adding that it was pure coincidence that Fu was elected acting chairman of the union on the day he was caught drinking before reporting for duty.
Gao questioned the legitimacy of organizing a strike, saying that the union used an online questionnaire to determine the number of members in favor of going on strike, but it registered them as favoring a strike just for responding.
“What was paradoxical was that union members who are not China Airlines employees could also vote for a strike, which begs the question of whether such a move would be legitimate,” Gao said.
Asked about allegations that the company does not have consistent standards for alcohol tests, he said the airline uses devices for fast screenings and certified machines that produce more precise results to thoroughly administer tests, in line the Civil Aeronautics Administration’s requirements.
All the machines have functioned normally and the airline has properly followed procedures to enforce alcohol tests, he added.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods