The Taoyuan Union of Pilots yesterday said a vote on whether a labor strike is to be organized would still be held even after EVA Airways announced that its employees would receive on average a year-end bonus that is equivalent to six months’ salary and an across-the-board salary raise.
The nation’s second-largest airline yesterday morning announced that it decided to give all employees — ground and flight crew members — a record bonus this year, thanks to a strong recovery of the civil aviation industry after the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the policy would apply to employees in EVA Airways and its subsidiaries.
Additional bonuses would be available in each company in the middle of next year, depending on this year’s surplus earnings, the airline said.
Photo: CNA
As incentives, ground crew and flight attendants would from next year be given an average raise of NT$5,000, while pilots’ salaries would increase by NT$11,000 to NT$20,000, depending on their positions, the company said.
The announcement came after EVA Air pilots in the union on Friday last week began voting on whether they should organize a labor strike in protest against the company’s alleged unwillingness to increase personnel costs, which they claimed has led to a pilot shortage and frequent aviation accidents. Pilots also said that they do not exclude the possibility of striking during the Lunar New Year holiday without any prior notice.
“The voting process for a labor strike has started, and we would not stop it now. If our members accept what EVA Airways has to offer, it would be reflected in the voting rate,” union researcher Chen Po-chien (陳柏謙) said.
The airline has offered better rewards to its employees than before the vote, but the union would better determine whether pilots actually benefit from the company’s pay raise scheme after getting to know more details, Chen said.
“The dispute has never been about the amount of the year-end bonus. What the union has been focusing on is the overall adjustments of pilots’ salaries and hotel allowances,” Chen said.
Chen also rejected the allegation that pilots could receive a year-end bonus topping NT$1 million. The year-end bonus is calculated based on the base salary given to an employee, and a base salary to a copilot is about NT$45,000, he said.
“Since February last year, we have been hoping to negotiate with EVA Airways over long-term solutions over the distribution of year-end bonus and salaries. However, the airline has never responded positively to our requests,” Chen said. “These matters should all be negotiated first, rather than through a unilateral announcement.”
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard