Losses stemming from a one-day strike staged by China Airlines (CAL) flight attendants last week are estimated at NT$500 million (US$15.37 million), CAL chairman Ho Nuan-hsuan (何煖軒) said yesterday.
Ho, who assumed the post on Thursday, the day before the strike began, said CAL’s losses amounted to about half of the NT$1 billion being quoted in speculation.
“The revenue losses during the strike are estimated at about NT$300 million, compensation for affected passengers and travel agencies at NT$180 million, and other miscellaneous costs at NT$20 million,” he said.
The strike, the first of its kind in Taiwan, ended late on Friday after CAL’s new management agreed to a compromise on the seven demands being made by the flight attendants union.
The union was asking for an increase in flight attendants’ overseas flight subsidy from US$2 per hour to NT$5; a guarantee of 123 days off per year rather than the current 118 days and for the flight attendants to be allowed to report for duty in Taipei instead of at the CAL headquarters in Taoyuan.
The strike on Friday resulted in the cancelation of more than 120 CAL flights over two days, leaving about 30,000 passengers stranded in Taiwan and abroad.
The legislature’s Transportation Committee filed a motion yesterday seeking to hold the airline’s top executives prior to the strike — chairman Sun Huang-hsiang (孫洪祥) and president Chang Yu-hern (張有恆) — accountable for the labor action.
The motion asks the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to determine the legal responsibility of Sun and Chang over their handling of the strike and pursue compensation from them for the airline’s losses.
Sun and Chang resigned the day before the flight attendants went on strike.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) said the issue involves CAL’s corporate governance and should be dealt with according to company regulations.
The government holds a nearly 50 percent stake in the airline company, including a 34.1 percent stake held by the ministry-invested China Aviation Development Foundation, which allows it to have a decisive say in CAL’s management and operations.
However, there are concerns taxpayers will now have to foot the bill for the losses incurred due to the strike.
Hochen said he hoped CAL would overcome its labor problems and post revenue growth in the second half of the year to offset the losses, so that the financial blow suffered by the airline does not fall on the public’s shoulders.
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