More than 500 flight attendants yesterday marched in Taipei to call for better work conditions after talks between EVA Airways Corp and the Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union broke down last month.
The demonstration, organized by the union, attracted more than 800 people, including flight attendants from EVA Airways, China Airlines and labor rights advocates from other unions and groups, the union said.
Over the past three decades, EVA’s profit has increased significantly, but the growth has not been reflected in employees’ salaries, union secretary-general Cheng Ya-ling (鄭雅菱) said at a rally in front of the Evergreen International Corp bulding on Minsheng E Road before the march.
Photo: CNA
Instead of receiving their fair share of the company’s profits, employees have been given more exhausting flight schedules and are often subject to inappropriate disciplinary measures, she said.
“We are opposed to the airline’s oppressive management and we demand an end to exhausting flight schedules,” she said.
The flight attendants deserve better work conditions and should be free to join the union, she added.
The union has for months been demanding more rest time between flights, an increase in layover allowance exclusively for its members and the inclusion of its representatives on the company’s board and internal disciplinary committee.
After three failed government-led negotiations with the company, the union on May 13 started voting in Taoyuan and Kaohsiung to determine whether to call a strike.
The voting is to continue until tomorrow and ballot counting is to start that day.
Since the voting began, the union and the airline had two rounds of talks — on May 24 and on Wednesday last week — but did not reach any agreement.
“Since the two rounds of talks, nothing has been set about whether there would be a next round,” EVA flight attendant and union member Lin Yu-chia (林昱嘉) said.
The union has invited EVA to a third round of negotiation on Monday next week, but the company has yet to respond, she said.
“We hope the company would understand how exhausted its employees are because of work, listen to their voices and resume talks with the union soon,” she said.
To convince the company how exhausting its flight attendants’ work schedules can be, three flight attendants had been standing at the march’s destination, the Chang Yung-fa Foundation on Zhongshan S Road, since 4am, she said.
When the demonstrators reached the foundation at 3:50pm, the trio had been standing there for close to 12 hours, which is how long EVA flight attendants work on round-trip flights to Tokyo, Beijing and Phnom Penh, she said.
“Just because the work hours are legal does not mean employees are getting enough rest,” she said, adding that she hoped the company would allow flight attendants assigned to those three flights to spend the night at the destination or offer better solutions to ensure they are well-rested.
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