EVA Air cabin crew strike gives Taiwan fatigue but boosts peers

July 5th 2019

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Longest strike in Taiwan has exhausted the public. Read More »

The summer travelling season was given an unexpected extra boost in passengers and cargo to EVA Air competitors due to a cabin crew strike at EVA that is in its third week. Total cancellations have exceeded 2,000 flights, impacting 405,000 passengers.

Foregone revenue has surpassed US$70 million. On some days, EVA has run only 60% of its schedule. At times, it has come close to finalising an agreement with the union only for talks to again break down.

EVA appears prepared for the strike to continue and has planned to operate 70% of its scheduled services to July 19. Earlier, it had stopped accepting new bookings.

Over the years, threatened or real industrial action from cabin crew and pilots has saddled China Airlines and EVA Air with increased costs. Observers consider the employee demands a mixture of the practical and the unreasonable.

The public has often supported employees, but this changed after an earlier China Airlines strike when negotiations were broadcast and the public saw the disorder within the cabin crew union. Local media began to understand union statements could be misleading or entirely false.

Whatever credibility unions had left after the China Airlines strike was significantly reduced by the union calling the strike with little notice, giving EVA minimum time to respond.

The union and management appeared to agree about terms but disagree about repercussions for striking employees.