The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday responded to questions about the breakdown of strike negotiations on Saturday, saying that the vote it held with union members never implied that the strike was over.
The vote simply ensured that the company’s proposal was considered by all employees democratically, it said.
Members of the public had been asking if the vote was “just an act,” but this was not the case, the union said.
Photo: CNA
Union members were asked whether they agreed with a proposal made by EVA Airways management on Friday, and if they disagreed, whether they would continue the strike in accordance with Article 11 of the union’s strike regulations, the union said.
Article 11 requires the union to hold a vote every 10 days, it added.
The terms and conditions proposed by EVA on Friday afternoon during negotiations between the union and the airline included a pledge that the company would not take action against the strikers and would cooperate with the union to end the strike.
The airline also agreed to a bonus of NT$300 per trip for overnight flights and NT$500 for transoceanic flights, and said it would allow attendants to rest overnight on flights BR198 and BR108, which fly to Tokyo from October to March, and on flight BR716, which flies to Beijing from April to August, excluding May.
EVA would also host monthly employer-employee meetings, a quarterly board of directors or general manager’s meeting, and semi-annual reviews of duty rosters and work arrangements on regular, predetermined dates, the proposed agreement says.
A personnel evaluation committee would include five elected instructors, who would take turns, one coevaluator with the right to speak and vote, and one serving flight attendant to accompany the person being evaluated, it says, adding that the union would also appoint 11 people as directors or supervisors on the board.
The union’s board appointees would be entitled to 25 annual paid leave days for participating and would have the company’s cooperation in arranging their schedules, it added.
A majority of the union members voted in favor of the proposed deal after it was submitted to union members for a vote from 10pm on Friday to noon on Saturday.
Union and airline representatives met at the Taoyuan City Government building on Saturday to negotiate final terms before signing an agreement, but the talks broke down after three hours.
Union representative Liao Yi-chin (廖以勤) said the company would not agree to not punish the 18 flight attendants who the airline said went on strike on June 20, before the union officially began its strike action, and would not agree to reinstate the benefits and working conditions that striking employees enjoyed before going on strike.
According to a statement issued by EVA on May 8, if a strike hurt its profitability and caused financial losses, it would consider freezing annual wage increases and suspending year-end bonus payments to employees, and would stop offering discount air fares to employees and their families for three years.
EVA on Saturday said it wished to implement a notification period before the start of strikes, but this was not in the proposal originally sent to the union that members voted on, Liao said.
Unlike China Airlines, EVA is a private company and answerable to stockholders, so it cannot agree to unreasonable demands, the company member said, on condition of anonymity, adding that if the airline gave in to the union, it would not be fair to those who continued working under stressful conditions.
Meanwhile, one senior flight attendant said that the union could not rationally defend the 18 flight attendants who walked off the job from 2:30pm to 2:40pm on the day of the strike, as the union had announced that the strike would begin at 4pm.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
RSS