The Evergreen Group should consider the special circumstances facing Evergreen Airline Services Corp and offer financial assistance to the company so that its employees can enjoy the Lunar New Year holiday, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday.
Evergreen Airline Services, a subsidiary of EVA Airways Corp, offers ground services to the airline and other contractors.
More than 200 Evergreen Airline Services employees booked leave for the New Year long weekend to protest what they said was unequal treatment of employees within the Evergreen Group.
Photo: Tony Yao, Taipei Times
Evergreen Airline Services and Evergreen Sky Catering Corp employees were given a year-end bonus of one month of salary, while those at EVA Airways and Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp received three months of salaries.
Evergreen Marine Corp employees reportedly received a bonus of 10 to 52 months of salary.
Although EVA Airways’ ground operations returned to normal yesterday, some Evergreen Airline Services employees vowed to stage a walkout again during the Lunar New Year holiday if their demand to raise their bonus to three months of salary is not met.
Meanwhile, the workers’ union of Taoyuan International Airport Services Ltd, a ground service firm owned by China Airlines, also threatened to strike during the Lunar New Year holiday or the 228 Memorial Day long weekend if its demands for a 4 percent wage raise and other benefits are not met.
Seventy percent of the ground services at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are provided by Taoyuan International Airport Services, while 30 percent are provided by Evergreen Airline Services.
Speaking at a news conference to promote the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Taipei, Wang told reporters that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications would not allow ground services at the nation’s largest international airport to grind to a halt due to labor disputes, adding that it would seek to facilitate communication between ground service workers and management.
“We hope that the labor disputes will end as soon as possible through reasonable and rational communication, or many air travelers could be affected,” he said.
Evergreen Airline Services and Taoyuan International Airport Services incurred substantial losses over the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many airlines to cancel flights and caused the ground service operators to lose income, Wang said.
“The two companies could not generate profits due to external circumstances, which were beyond their control, not because their employees did not work hard,” he said.
“Their more profitable parent companies should take these factors into consideration and voluntarily offer assistance so that workers in their subsidiaries can enjoy the Lunar New Year holiday as well,” Wang said.
Financial support from parent firms is necessary considering that many of the employees in the two firms have relatively low salaries, he said.
However, Wang said he is not suggesting that China Airlines and Evergreen Group breach fiscal discipline by transferring one subsidiary’s profits to a debt-ridden one.
Evergreen Airline Services and Taoyuan International Airport Services should pay for workers’ bonuses and a wage raise themselves, but their parent companies should offer assistance if they have trouble securing funding, he said.
For example, in state-run firms, year-end bonuses are not always exclusively calculated by the firms’ profitability and workers’ performance, Wang said, adding that the government would also take into account other policy ramifications.
Failure to stop the planned strikes would not only affect inbound and outbound passengers, but also transit passengers, Travel Quality Assurance Association spokesperson Ringo Lee (李奇嶽) said.
Airlines, travel agencies and tourists would all lose, he said.
“This is the first Lunar New Year holiday the nation will celebrate as it leaves the pandemic behind, which is very important to travel agencies,” Lee said.
“Many people want to travel overseas during the Lunar New Year holiday and are getting nervous as they watch labor disputes unfold. The transportation ministry should help the involved parties negotiate over feasible options,” he said.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chi Wen-chung (祁文中) said that EVA Airways should devise an emergency response plan to minimize the effects on passengers in the event that Evergreen Airline Services employees strike during the Lunar New Year holiday.
Tigerair Taiwan Ltd chairman Kevin Chen (陳漢銘) told reporters that the low-cost carrier has outsourced its ground services to Taoyuan International Airport Services.
Should the company strike during the Lunar New Year holiday, Tigerair’s flights could be affected, Chen said.
“We will prepare for possible outcomes to minimize the impact on passengers, but we hope that the concerned parties can find solutions to their problems,” he said.
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