According to the "View Taiwan Sea" report, more than 100 employees of Taiwan's EVA Air Ground Service (EVA Air Service) recently asked for leave due to dissatisfaction with the year-end salary distribution, resulting in Taoyuan AirportA large number of flight delays, affecting thousands of passengers. The current labor-management deadlock is still unresolved, and it is not ruled out that collective leave will be taken again during the Spring Festival holiday. In addition, Taiwan's "China Airlines" subsidiary "Taoyuan Airlines", which accounts for 70% of Taoyuan Airport's ground handling, has also warned that it will not rule out a Spring Festival strike. Taiwan's two major airline ground handlers have a tough attitude. If they go on strike during the Spring Festival this year, Taoyuan Airport may be paralyzed.
According to reports, EVA Airways launched a surprise leave request due to dissatisfaction with the lack of employees at the end of the year, which seriously affected the transportation of New Year's Day holidays. It also planned a Spring Festival strike, and Taoyuan Airlines will also respond together. Li Xinyan, chairman of the Taiwan Pilot Union, said that the problem of insufficient manpower in Changqin has always existed, and the year-end bonus is just the last straw; Taoqin will hold a Spring Festival strike vote on January 6. Since the Taoqin union has always been very united, this vote "is bound to pass" and will have a huge impact on the Spring Festival transportation volume.
Li Xinyan revealed that because the current management response is to add more temporary manpower, this is very discouraging for the original employees, and they are unwilling to improve the salary conditions of the original employees. Instead, they use "double salary" to increase the number of employees.
Li Xinyan also spoke out for Taiwanese advocates, pointing out that if a company has been unable to recruit people and has insufficient manpower, it must consider whether it is due to poor treatment. While EVA Air is carrying cargo in the passenger cabin, maintaining the company's operations and setting a new record in cargo operation revenue, it is also these EVA flight employees who are loading boxes of cargo onto the plane. As a pilot, she has seen the efforts and dedication of the airlines in the past three years, and believes that the airline employees deserve better treatment.
The airline industry on the island admitted that since the Chinese New Year is early this year, the timing is not favorable for the management. If they really cannot reach a consensus with the flight crew, they will repeat the mistakes of the China Airlines pilots' strike during the Lunar New Year in 2019, and the situation will be more difficult to deal with.
Industry operators bluntly said, "If pilots or flight attendants of either China Airlines or Evergreen go on strike, you can still ask for help from the other party. However, if the two airlines join forces and fail to fly, Taoyuan Airport will inevitably be paralyzed. There is no other way except asking airline employees to move luggage. If flights are delayed or cancelled, the probability of consecutive holidays during the Spring Festival will greatly increase.
In addition, Li Qiyue, the public relations director of the Taiwan Quality Assurance Association, also bluntly said in an interview that EVA Air's collective leave has caused a large number of flight delays. Now it is reported that even Taoyuan Airlines is planning a Spring Festival strike. If the incident really turns out to be like this, it may cause a "three loses" situation for the aviation industry, travel industry, and passengers.
Li Qiyue said that Taoyuan Airlines accounts for 10% of the total. Taoyuan Airport accounts for 70% of ground traffic. If EVA Air is added to this, Taoyuan Airlines will be greatly affected during the Spring Festival. Not only departing passengers, but also arriving flights and even connecting passengers will be affected.
Li Qiyue emphasized that the travel industry has finally survived the epidemic for three years. This is the first Spring Festival period after the epidemic. Many people will be affected. People are looking forward to going out to celebrate the Chinese New Year, so they hope that the Taiwan authorities’ transportation authorities will help negotiate a good solution as soon as possible.
As for whether there has been a wave of passenger withdrawals, Li Qiyue said that for tourists, everyone is still waiting to see if the situation has developed yet, but of course tourists are also very nervous.
