Members of the Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union are to hold a 24-hour sit-in in front of the Ministry of Labor on Thursday next week to protest EVA Airways’ treatment of flight attendants following a 20-day strike that ended in July.
The airline’s flight attendants launched the strike through the union on June 20. Before the strike, the company warned airline employees in a notice that it would need to cancel staff discount tickets if a strike occurred, but that flight attendants willing to work during a strike would still receive discount tickets.
On July 6, the airline and the union signed a collective agreement stating that negotiations over discount tickets would begin within two months after the end of the strike.
Four meetings have so far been held, but no deal has been reached.
The union said that the issue of differential treatment remains unresolved even after it negotiated with EVA Air for two months, adding that the airline insisted at negotiations on Wednesday last week that flight attendants who went on strike must wait 18 months before being eligible for discount tickets.
The union wants to continue negotiations on the discount tickets, but EVA Air refuses to schedule another meeting, it added.
“The public needs to know the airline’s malicious deeds since the strike so that the government can make a ruling that is fair to the workers,” the union said.
The union said it is asking EVA Air flight attendants to appeal to the public by writing the word “fair” on their hands, taking a photograph and posting it on social media.
Flight attendants should add a description of how airline management has treated them since the strike, and end the post with #flightforfair and another hashtag that accuses management of imposing a “one company, two systems” policy for flight attendants, it added.
EVA Air said that it is complying with the collective agreement by making flight attendants who went on strike eligible on Aug. 6 to all zonal employee discount (ZED) tickets, except for ZED tickets from EVA Air and Uni Air.
Eligibility for ZED tickets from EVA Air and Uni Air would begin next year, the airline said.
The flight attendants’ eligibility for various discount tickets, except for free tickets, would be restored on Jan. 1, 2021, while their eligibility for the free tickets would be restored on June 19, 2022, EVA Air said.
The Ministry of Labor is to hold its fourth investigative hearing on the matter at 3:30pm today.
The union plans to hold a news conference on Wednesday to call for the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to intervene on the flight attendants’ behalf.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it