Mon, Jan 09, 2023 page12

• Evergreen ground staff offered bonus

  HOLIDAY PAY AND NT$40,000: The offer came after staff threatened to take leave en masse again and amid criticism over a service subsidiary’s ‘hijacked’ in-house union

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  Evergreen Airline Services Corp (長榮航勤) on Saturday said it would pay each of its employees a NT$40,000 (US$1,305) bonus and increase Lunar New Year holiday pay.

  The offer to the EVA Air Union came after ground staff on Friday threatened to take leave en masse during the upcoming holiday if management did not increase year-end bonuses from one month’s salary to three months’ salary, in line with bonuses paid by EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) to flight attendants and other employees.

  The service company said in a news release that it would take the issues raised by its employees into consideration.

  

  An Evergreen Airline Services Corp employee works at a baggage carousel at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Saturday.

  Photo: CNA

  The union — which non-unionized ground staff have enlisted to speak on their behalf — on Friday said that ground crew members were additionally seeking higher base salaries and holiday bonuses relative to temporary workers.

  The ground crew members also want better working conditions, including a right to use their annual leave freely and reject working overtime, the union said.

  About 150 employees took a day off on Jan. 1 to protest the planned year-end bonuses of one month of salary, well short of those paid at other Evergreen subsidiaries.

  The service company on Saturday defended its bonus policy, saying that it posted a combined deficit of NT$99.38 million in the first three quarters of last year.

  Only thanks to a strong showing in the fourth quarter did the company post a full-year profit, it said.

  The service company did not benefit from a surge in the airline’s cargo business, as it mostly serves passenger flights, it said.

  After the offer to the firm’s employees, the union said that the labor dispute showed that too few ground staff are members of a separate in-house union, calling it a “fundamental problem.”

  That union, which only has 33 members, has been “hijacked by management,” the EVA Air Union said, calling on the service company to “return the [in-house] union to its workers” and establish a channel for labor negotiations.

  Separately, China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) on Friday said it would raise wages by 3 percent on average and pay its employees three months of salary in year-end bonuses.

  China Airlines said the wage hike and the bonuses are the result of negotiations with its unionized workers, adding that the moves still need approval by its board of directors.

  The announcement came after the carrier reported NT$3.62 billion in net profit for the first three quarters of last year, up 132.64 percent from a year earlier, with earnings per share of NT$0.6, up NT$0.32 from the previous year.

  In the nine-month period, the carrier posted NT$111.78 billion in consolidated sales, up 21.93 percent from a year earlier.

  Eased border controls in the nine-month period enabled the company to generate 251.3 percent more profit from passenger flights than in the same period in 2021, with flights to North America, Southeast Asia and Europe being major sources of revenue, it said.

  The company has forecast that the global passenger flight market would return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels next year, while the Asia-Pacific region is expected to see a return to those levels in 2025, as countries in the region rolled back virus curbs later than elsewhere.

  EVA Airways, which is planning to pay its employees three months of salary as year-end bonuses, has not announced any wage increases.

  In the first three quarters of last year, the airline posted NT$1.21 in earnings per share, compared with net losses per share of NT$0.11 in the same period of 2021.

  Meanwhile, StarLux Airlines Co (星宇航空) is planning to pay employees one month of salary as year-end bonuses, saying that its revenue increased significantly after COVID-19 border controls were lifted.

  Since its establishment in May 2018, StarLux had lost a cumulative NT$11.1 billion as of the end of September last year.

  Three months earlier it posted cumulative losses of NT$9.598 billion since its inception.
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