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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 CAL should be prepared for workers’ strike: CAA
Chu Liang-chun, right, a director of the Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union, and union representatives yesterday stage a protest outside the Civil Aeronautics Administration in Taipei, accusing the agency of ignoring China Airlines flight attendants’ labor rights and flight safety. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
BROAD SUPPORT: The Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union said that 2,535 China Airlines flight attendants voted to go on strike after the airline failed to meet union demands
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
The Civil Aeronautics Administration （CAA） yesterday asked China Airlines （CAL） to prepare for a worst-case scenario if flight attendants go on strike this summer as planned, saying that the airline must not compromise aviation safety or passengers’ interests because of the proposed industrial action.
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union — most members of which are CAL flight attendants — on Tuesday night voted to go on strike after CAL’s management refused to meet several union demands.
Among the demands, union members rejected the company’s policy of requiring employees to report directly to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where the company’s headquarters is based.
Members also refused to sign the consent form required by Article 84-1 of the Labor Standards Act （勞動基準法）, which was designed to protect flight attendants or other workers whose hours do not fit the regular eight-hour working day described by the act.
Subsequently, the union secured the right to go on strike through a nationwide vote.
According to the union, 2,535 of 2,638 CAL flight attendants voted to go on strike, adding that the percentage was higher than the 50 percent threshold required by law.
While the union has fulfilled the legal requirements to organize a strike by its members, it said it has yet to decide on when or how a strike would proceed.
Should the union decide to continue with its plan, it would be the first time that flight attendants in Taiwan have exercised their legal right to take industrial action against their employer.
Dozens of union members protested at the CAA building yesterday morning.
They said the airline is planning to recruit former CAL flight attendants to temporarily fill any vacancies caused by a strike, adding that the former flight attendants would be permitted to return to active duty after just four days of training.
During the protest, police reportedly tried to shove protesters who were threatening to storm the CAA building.
CAA Flight Standards Division director Clark Lin （林俊良） said that CAL must submit its plan to merge or cancel flights to the administration for review after the union finalizes its strike plans.
“The flight attendants’ strike will not be used as a reason to allow the company to overwork their employees,” Lin said, adding that flights would have to be canceled if there were not enough attendants onboard.
Lin said that CAL’s flight attendants’ manual indicates that flight attendants who have not been on active duty for less than two years would need to be retrained for one week before they are allowed to return to work.
Meanwhile, flight attendants must undergo ground training for two to three weeks if they have not been on active duty for two to four years, whereas those who have not been flight attendants for more than four years must be trained again for three months, which is the same amount of time for new recruits.
Meanwhile, CAL president Chang Yu-hern （張有恆） said the company would not cease negotiations with the flight attendants and hopes that the dispute can end peacefully.
He also said that aviation safety and passengers would remain the company’s top priority, adding that it would mobilize all personnel and resources available to minimize the impact of a strike.
The company questioned the union’s claim that 2,535 flight attendants voted to go on strike, saying a source informed them that only about 2,000 cast votes.
If all 2,000 flight attendants go on strike, it would create a shortage of 600 flight attendants in the peak travel season, the company said, adding that it would also draft ground staff who have been trained as flight attendants as well as Japanese, Vietnamese and Indonesian flight attendants that it has recruited.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
