Taoyuan pilot union to vote on strike

• By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

Taoyuan Union of Pilots members who work at EVA Airways are to vote on Friday about whether to organize a labor strike, saying the airline has not raised salaries for more than 10 years despite having earned huge profits over the past two years.

Last year, EVA Airways’ earnings before tax had reached NT$7.1 billion (US$227.1 million), the union said, adding that the airline’s accumulated profits in the first three quarters this year reached a record high of NT$16.4 billion.

“While the airline reaped huge profits, it has since 2011 not been giving raises to pilots, which led to an effective decrease in salary of more than 10 percent due to inflation. Through negotiations, the airline finally agreed to a mild 1.5 percent to 2 percent salary increase,” the union said.

The company’s policy of reducing personnel costs has caused the company to lose about 10 percent of its Taiwanese pilots, the union said.

The union criticized the airline for recruiting foreign pilots to address the pilot shortage.

“Once we secure through voting the right to organize a labor strike, we will see if the airline is willing to negotiate with the union and address the union’s demands before we proceed with further actions,” the union said.

Some pilots are scheduled to protest at the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei today.

“We believe the labor shortage was the root cause of six aviation and ground safety incidents so far this year, which has posed a potential risk to air passengers. Transportation officials should be responsible for asking the airline to address the problems within the designated period, or else restrict the airline’s air traffic rights,” the union said.

Earlier this month, the airline rejected the union’s claim that it has not raised pilots’ salaries for 10 years.

“Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we did not make salary adjustments in 2021. Except for that year, we adjusted pilots’ salaries annually from 2015 to this year. The salary of a pilot has increased by nearly NT$100,000 since 2015, which does not include additional subsidies,” the company said.

Separately, Taoyuan International Airport Services (TIAS) yesterday said it would continue to negotiate with union representatives after the union announced on Saturday that its members would stop working overtime from Dec. 31, adding that the negotiations would not affect ground services at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport during the New Year holidays.

Because of the surge in the number of flights after the pandemic, ground service workers often have to work two to four hours overtime to complete the workload, TIAS deputy union chairman Tang Wen-hua (湯文華) said.

The union demanded a 4 percent raise and one month’s salary as a bonus if the company wants them to work overtime.