Flight attendants of EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have secured the right to hold a labor strike based on the turnout rate for the vote, Minster of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday, adding that the ministry has prepared an emergency response plan in the event of a strike.
Lin made the comments after inspecting the Freeway Bureau’s traffic control center in New Taipei City’s Pinglin (坪林) when asked to comment on a march by EVA flight attendants yesterday afternoon, at which they expressed their demands.
“We hope the union can peacefully express its demands so that the public understands what it is standing up for,” he said. “We also hope that the airline’s management can understand what the union is trying to tell them.”
Photo: Cheng Wei-chi, Taipei Times
The ministry has completed the second phase of an emergency response plan — it would ensure that passengers could switch to other carriers, he said, adding that the ministry instructed the airline not to cancel flights to Lienchiang County as UNI Air (立榮航空) — part of the same EVA Airways group — is the only operator on that route.
However, both the military and shipping firms would be placed on standby if a strike caused the cancelation of flights on the Taipei-Matsu route, he said.
Flight attendants and airline management have been locking horns over the “free-riders clause,” with the union demanding that the airline not extend union-negotiated benefits to non-union workers.
Many companies consider the clause as an infringement of a corporation’s right to manage itself, he said, adding that, as other companies have done, the airline could extend other benefits to union workers.
The airline management should prevent a strike from happening, and the union could still talk things out with the airline, Lin said, adding that the union is not obligated to go on strike just because it secured the right to do so.
Lin also announced that the Executive Yuan has approved a ministry proposal to allocate NT$166 million (US$5.27 million) toward new firefighting facilities for the Hsuehshan Tunnel on the Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway (Freeway No. 5).
It would be the first time that money was budgeted from the Freeway Construction Fund to upgrade a freeway tunnel’s firefighting equipment, Lin said.
Hsuehshan Tunnel is 12.9km long and is the world’s largest twin-tunnel system, Lin said, adding that it is also the ninth-longest tunnel in the world.
It has been 13 years since the tunnel opened, so the tunnel’s firefighting equipment should also be upgraded, he said.
Traffic inside the tunnel has already exceeded capacity, Lin said, adding that traffic volume would only increase after the Suhua Highway improvement project is completed by the end of this year, facilitating traffic between northern and eastern Taiwan.
These issues have highlighted the necessity of addressing fire safety now, he said.
Despite getting approval from the Executive Yuan, the New Taipei City and Yilan County governments need to jointly submit an annual budget plan, Lin said, adding that allocated funds would be budgeted based on the annual plan.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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