The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), travel agents and airlines have proposed ways to protect travelers ahead of a possible strike by EVA Airways flight attendants.
Members of the Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union, which consists of China Airlines and EVA flight attendants, is on Monday next week scheduled to begin voting on whether the EVA flight attendants should go on strike.
The union has about 5,700 members, of whom 3,100 are EVA flight attendants.
EVA flight attendants have said that they would not go on strike if the motion does not secure the approval of at least 2,850 union members and 2,480 EVA flight attendants.
As the vote is scheduled to run until June 6, many have expressed concern that a strike would affect summer travelers.
In view of likely disruptions a strike would have on travelers, CAA officials on Monday met with representatives from the travel industry, airlines, the Tourism Bureau and the Consumer Protection Committee.
The CAA said that it would ask EVA to keep the public appraised about its dispute with the union, as well as on measures it would undertake to protect consumers.
Not only should the airline make announcements through the news media or through the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s market observation post system, it must also provide information on changes to flights and measures to accommodate passengers affected by the labor dispute, it said.
“Once the airline knows when a strike will take place, it must find ways to tell consumers in advance about any flights that would be canceled or delayed,” CAA Air Transport Division Director Han Chen-hua (韓振華) said.
Airline representatives stressed the importance of the union giving prior notice for any planned strike, saying that they already have rules governing passenger refunds in the event that flights are changed.
However, they said that they would not know how many flights would be affected by a strike if they do not know when it is to take place, which would make it impossible for them to follow procedures to handle requests for refunds caused by the strike.
Travel agents agreed with the airlines on the advance notice, but said that they should not be held responsible for consumers’ losses caused by a strike and urged the bureau to change the terms of the standardized contract between travel agents and travelers.
Travel agents have been asking for strikes by airline workers to be listed among reasons for breaches of contract that cannot be attributed to travel agencies since a strike by China Airlines pilots in February, for which they were asked to bear additional accommodation costs by travelers stranded overseas.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
RSS