Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport might be spared from plunging into chaos during the Lunar New Year holiday, as Taoyuan International Airport Services (TIAS) in a meeting yesterday morning agreed to all of the demands from its workers’ union.
TIAS, a ground service firm owned by China Airlines, handles about 70 percent of the ground services at the airport.
“We are glad that TIAS chairman Wang Cheng-ming (王正明) showed goodwill toward our proposed incentives for employees, which has greatly eased tensions between labor and management,” the union said. “This also bodes well for the successful signing of a collective agreement later this year.”
Photo: CNA
The union on Monday said it would protest outside the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei tomorrow, and hold a vote there to determine whether to strike during the Lunar New Year holiday.
The plan was canceled after the agreement was reached yesterday, the union said.
TIAS said in a statement that it respected and agreed to the union’s major appeals, as well as the year-end bonus it had proposed.
Some of the appeals involve adjustments to the company’s corporate structure and would be implemented in phases following approval from the board, TIAS said.
“We considered the work and sacrifices made by the ground-level workers, who are essential to the company’s sustainable development. Mutual agreement on this principle allowed both sides to quickly reach a consensus,” it said.
The union’s major appeals include increasing the nighttime subsidy from NT$50 to NT$75 per hour, a 4 percent raise for all employees and an incentive bonus of NT$15,000 for working during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The operating allowance for workers of all levels would be raised by NT$1,000, while the technical allowance of the maintenance workers would be NT$2,000, the union said.
In addition to a comprehensive adjustment of pay scales for workers of all levels, those who have worked at the company for more than 10 years would be promoted through a proper mechanism, and contractors would become formal employees after a designated period, the union said.
Meanwhile, the year-end bonus would be set at NT$80,000, the union said.
The union and management reached the agreement after negotiations that lasted more than an hour yesterday morning.
Evergreen Airline Services, which handles 30 percent of ground services at the airport, has yet to respond to its workers who are demanding that their year-end bonus be increased from one month’s salary to three.
More than 200 Evergreen Airline Services employees took a leave of absence on short notice for the New Year long weekend to protest what they said was the unequal treatment of employees within Evergreen Group.
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