Strike over: Taiwan’s China Airlines and pilots reach deal to end week-long walkout
- Carrier agrees to add more pilots to longer-haul routes to combat fatigue
- Union says it will not mount another strike for next 3½ years
Striking pilots of China Airlines, Taiwan’s biggest carrier, have agreed to return to work immediately, ending seven days of industrial action over working conditions and benefits.
Representatives of the carrier and the Taoyuan Union of Pilots signed an agreement late on Thursday witnessed by the island’s transport and labour chiefs and Vice-Premier Chen Chi-mai.
“With the agreement signed ... we can now breathe a sigh of relief as the incident has created inconvenience to many people,” Chen said, adding China Airlines and the union should learn to work together.
More than 200 flights, including several dozen to Hong Kong, were cancelled after the union launched the industrial action on February 8, stranding close to 50,000 passengers and inflicting over NT$500 million (US$16.2 million) in losses on the carrier, officials and industrial sources said.
“The two sides finally reached an agreement to end the strike following four rounds of talks in the past week,” deputy labour minister Liu Shih-hao said.
Under the deal, the union agreed not to strike again in the next 3½ years. In return, China Airlines agreed to the union’s main demand to increase the number of pilots on various flights to combat fatigue and improve safety.