EVA Airways yesterday said that 600 flight attendants who joined a strike by the Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union have asked to return to work and that 400 already retrieved their identification documents from the union.
However, the union disputed the number, saying that only 113 members have reclaimed their passports, mainland China travel permits and employee identity cards that it has been holding.
“The union still has the identification documents of more than 2,100 EVA flight attendants,” union board member Jhan Jie-yu (詹捷宇) told reporters in Taipei. “The 400 flight attendants EVA Airways said have retrieved their documents do not exist.”
Photo: CNA
The union launched the strike against the airline on June 20.
To keep track of the number of striking flight attendants, the union has required members to give it their passports, mainland China travel permits and employee IDs, which it placed with a security company.
To reclaim their documents, union members need to fill out an application form in person and wait two days, the union said.
While there have been rumors that the union’s contract with the security company ended on Sunday, the union said the contract took effect on June 21 and runs through June 20 next year, but the company asked if it could terminate the contract yesterday, due to pressure from various sources.
Although no date has been set for a third round of negotiations, the union last night met with EVA Airways in a session arranged by the Ministry of Labor, to discuss details about an agreement to end existing labor disputes. The meeting was not open to the media.
The union yesterday announced a plan to walk from EVA Airways’ headquarters in Taoyuan’s Nankan (南崁) to the Presidential Office Building in Taipei tomorrow.
Union representative Huang Man-ling (黃蔓鈴) said that they hope to have 150 members make the walk in one day to show “the union’s determination and deliver a message to the Presidential Office.”
It will be a lengthy and tough trip, but flight attendants will not give in to fear, she said, adding that she hopes members remain confident in the union.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday urged EVA management and employees to quickly sign a collective agreement.
“We are glad to see that EVA’s employees and management had reached consensus on some of the issues on Tuesday. Now both sides only need to work out details before they sign the collective agreement,” Lin said
The ministry would continue to respond to the effects of the strike, he said, adding that EVA’s transport capacity has been raised to 60 to 70 percent.
However, as many families would arrange to travel during the summer vacation, the ministry hoped the strike would end soon, although it might take one to two weeks for the company to fully restore its capacity, he said.
The strike is an internal dispute within a private company, but it has generated external effects affecting travelers and travel agencies, and the ministry hopes that both sides would work to end the strike, sign the collective agreement and sort out unresolved issues in subsequent negotiations, he said.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan and CNA
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