An EVA Airways flight attendant yesterday apologized for making remarks about tampering with a pilot’s in-flight meal after the pilot purportedly criticized the Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union for launching a strike.
In a statement posted on the union’s Facebook page early yesterday morning, the flight attendant, surnamed Kuo (郭), admitted to saying in a Line messaging app group chat that she would add “extras” into a pilot’s food.
Screenshots of the conversation have been circulating online for several days, and the union initially suggested that they could have been fabricated.
They show Kuo — who is a member of the union’s board — sharing a picture of an EVA pilot and a Facebook post criticizing the union that she claimed he wrote, accompanied by her writing: “This man is going to get extras in his entree.”
She also wrote that she would give those who quit the strike halfway “a terrible time.”
“I am definitely going to give them a hard time. We were out there for 17 days, but now everything we will have they will get too,” she wrote in a screenshot.
In her statement, Kuo said that she does not intend to bully anyone.
“Hurting [the pilot] in flight would endanger aviation safety, including my own safety, so the remarks were completely meant as a joke,” she said.
Her comments were an emotional “slip of the tongue,” as the group had been discussing employees radically opposed to the union, she added.
“I admit that it was inappropriate and I am deeply sorry for the misunderstanding caused by the leaked conversation,” Kuo said.
To provide more context, she also shared several more screenshots that show her saying that she is against bullying and does not aim to intensify frictions between employees.
“I promise I will not bully anyone or do anything to endanger aviation safety,” Kuo said.
She added that she would do her best to repair the relationship between the company and flight attendants, as well as that between colleagues following the strike.
Asked if it had known that the screenshots are authentic, the union yesterday said that it is investigating and would respond today.
The Taoyuan Police Department’s Nankan police station said that EVA had reported the incident to the station, adding that an investigation is under way and that police would summon Kuo for questioning.
Asked for comment, the airline said that it would wait for the outcome of the police investigation.
Article 101 of the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法) stipulates that anyone who endangers flight safety by force, threats or other means faces detention, up to seven years in prison or a fine of up to NT$900,000.
Separately yesterday, EVA said it has dismissed a pilot surnamed Chu (朱) due to security concerns, as he reportedly on Facebook urged flight attendants who went on strike to give “special meals” to those who criticized them.
The airline’s discipline committee determined that Chu’s comment endangered flight safety and harmed EVA’s corporate image, as he encouraged cabin crew to harm other employees and cause panic, the carrier said in a statement.
Chu could lodge a complaint within 14 days with the department in which he served, it said.
The union on June 20 launched a strike against EVA after negotiations with the company’s upper management broke down earlier in the day.
The strike ended yesterday after both sides on Saturday reached an agreement to settle existing labor disputes.
Additional reporting by Kao Shih-ching and CNA
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