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Taiwan’s main carrier China Airlines cancelled 76 flights to Hong Kong, Japan and other destinations on Friday as hundreds of its flight attendants went on strike to protest against what they claim are the company’s poor working conditions.
Passengers wait at Sungshan airport after China Airlines' flight crew went on strike on Friday. Photo: AFP
The strike – the first by any airline based in Taiwan – left at least 20,000 air passengers stranded at the island’s main airports.
At least 17 flights between Taiwan and Hong Kong were cancelled on Friday.
A number of angry passengers at the island’s main international airport in Taoyuan, and the smaller airport in Taipei, shouted protests after being told that their flights had been either cancelled or delayed, local television stations reported.
“You people have the right to stage the strike and it is none of my business, but it should not affect us, and who is to compensate for our losses,” one passenger was shown shouting in footage aired by the SET cable television.
Huang Hui-chen (left) a spokeswoman for China Airlines’ flight attendants’ union, speaks to protesting members outside the airline’s Taipei headquarters on Friday. Photo: SCMP
Airline ground service workers were also seen repeatedly apologising to stranded passengers and offering to give them accommodation and refreshment vouchers of up to US$100.
The strike came as Taiwan’s new President, Tsai Ing-wen, departed for Panama and Paraguay – two of the island’s allies in Central and South America – on her first state visit to cement ties with the two countries.
Tsai, who boarded a China Airlines flight, expressed her support for the strike by crew members, saying she understood their demands.
However, her flight was not affected by the strike.
About 300 China Airlines employees have been taking part in the demonstrations. Photo: AFP
The strike started at midnight on Friday as hundreds of flight attendants took part in an overnight rally at the airlines’ Taipei headquarters.
“Reverse employer-employee relations,” and “No more deprival of labourers’ benefits”, chanted the headband-wearing flight attendants as they sat on the pavement outside the headquarters.
In vote involving only airline flight crew, carried out by the airline’s union, 2,535 out of its 2,683 members voted to support the strike, making it the first ever-strike by any Taiwan-based airline.
The union’s director, Lin Hsin-yi, said poor working conditions and inadequate benefits were the major reasons why its members had decided to go on strike.
“As for how long the strike will last, it depends on when the company decides to revert back to the hourly wage rates and duty-reporting rules that were in use before June 1,” she said.
Since June 1, the airline has required all crew members to report for duty at the airline’s base in Taoyuan – a bus ride of about one hour from Taipei, which the union said cut down its members’ hours for resting.
The union also complained about the long working hours and poor benefits of its staff compared with other international airlines.
(SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST)
