China Airlines (CAL) president Hsieh Shih-chien (謝世謙) is to become its chairman, the China Aviation Development Foundation, the airline’s largest shareholder, said yesterday.
The foundation holds 35.9 percent of CAL’s shares, while the second and third-largest shareholders are the National Development Fund and Chunghwa Telecom, which hold 9.9 percent and 4.86 percent respectively.
Chinese-language media reports yesterday said the decision to replace CAL chairman Ho Nuan-hsuan (何煖軒) was approved by the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei
The foundation said that it was scheduled to propose that Hsieh become chairman during a meeting of its board last night, after which it would notify the airline and request CAL convene its own board to vote on the move.
The airline would later decide when to convene its own board, the foundation said.
After graduating from Soochow University, Hsieh worked his way up from an entry-level position with CAL to managerial positions, including at its offices in Kaohsiung, Indonesia and Australia. He also served as chairman of TACT Logistics, part of the China Airlines Group.
He was appointed CAL president on June 24, 2016, amid a strike against the airline by the Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union.
Hsieh was in charge of negotiating with representatives of Taoyuan Union of Pilots after the union went on strike against CAL in February, and was credited with helping end the strike in seven days by remaining on good terms with Taoyuan Union of Pilots members.
The Taoyuan Union of Pilots yesterday affirmed Hsieh’s appointment.
Hsieh established a direct and smooth channel of communication with the union ever since it signed a collective labor agreement with the airline to end a strike on Feb. 14, the pilots union said in a statement.
“Through the multiple conversations with the airline’s management, we have felt that Hsieh was willing to listen to union members and viewed the interaction between the company’s management and the union from the most positive light,” the pilots union said. “We hope that Hsieh can fundamentally improve the labor-management relations after he becomes the chairman, as the relations need to be founded on mutual trust. We also hope that his leadership can unite CAL’s employees so that we can together to improve the company’s operation and enhance its service quality and aviation safety.”
During the strike, the pilots union had called for Ho to be replaced as chairman.
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