FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Petition to Eva Air Management to begin talks with FA Union
Old Jun 22, 2019, 11:07 pm
  #8  
Transpacificflyer
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: BKK/SIN/YYZ/YUL
Programs: DL, AC, Bonvoy, Accor, Hilton
Posts: 2,919
The union is on a legal strike. Unfortunately, this is the only effective bargaining option the union has left. There were 20 rounds of negotiations over two years, during which the company (IMO) refused to provide anything substantive. Nor were customers' needs taken into consideration by the company. When there is a 90% vote in favour of a collective action, then there is obviously a labour problem at the airline. IMO the historical relationship of labour negotiations at EVA has tended more towards strong arm tactics and bullying. EVA's labour relations are like a visit back to 1980's North American airline labour relationships. It took some airlines multiple crises before the unions and management realized that they needed to work together. The classic example is Air Canada. Calin Rovinescu was the outside legal counsel brought in to fix the pension problems and the chronic labour disputes. He became CEO and under his leadership, labour disputes became a thing of the past and now there are long term labour contracts in place. He mentored Benjamin Smith, President of AC, who was recruited in 2018 to run Air France -KLM and to solve the labour issues there. This is basically what EVA needs. That is why a reminder, by way of the OP's activity, is important.

I remind those lambasting the FAs, to take into account the market reality. The world we often term as "developed" is now undergoing a labour shortage and Taiwan has an unemployment rate of less than 4%. In a capitalist free market system, labour is an input commodity. When any commodity becomes scarce the cost of the input increases. In plain language, it is to be expected that wages would increase. During the last hard market, employees were told there was no money available for raises etc., and that the issue would be revisited when times were good. Well, the profitability of the company has increased over the past few years and that profit has certainly not been shared with those who made it possible.

Another important reason why EVA customers should care, is that EVA management is looking to hire foreign labour to work onboard the aircraft. This is reprehensible, Would Americans tolerate a US carrier hiring cheap workers from Honduras? Would Canadians accept cheap Haitian contract FAs? The Japanese would not accept the use of cheap filipino contract FAs, why then should EVA customers be expected to embrace hiring of cheap labour for FA positions?

EVA's FAs may not be perfect, but they merit better treatment from their employer.
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