A strike by Evergreen Airline Services Corp employees and a malfunction in the Manila Flight Information Region’s (FIR) air control system disrupted air traffic in Taiwan yesterday, affecting more than 4,000 travelers and forcing airlines to divert several flights to other airports.
About 100 employees of the Evergreen Group subsidiary went on strike on New Year’s Day to protest against unfair treatment of employees at the Evergreen Group, the EVA Air Union said.
While Evergreen Marine Corp employees reportedly received a year-end bonus of nearly 50 months of salaries, those at EVA Airways Corp and Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp received three months of salaries as bonus, it said.
Photo: Yao Chieh-hsiu, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, Evergreen Airline Services Corp and Evergreen Sky Catering Corp employees were only given a bonus of one month of salary, the union said.
As of 3pm yesterday, 37 outbound flights and 22 inbound flights had been delayed by the strike, disrupting travel plans for nearly 5,000 inbound and outbound passengers, Taoyuan International Airport Corp data showed.
“Some employees of Evergreen Airline Services Corp took leave on a short notice, which strained the manpower of ground crew, delayed many flights departing from Taiwan and slowed down the operations at baggage claim for international arrivals,” EVA Airways said yesterday.
Evergreen Airline Services Corp said that it sought emergency assistance from other ground service firms and temporary employment agencies, and prioritized cargo and baggage loading for passenger aircraft.
“We gradually overcame the delays. We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the incident,” the company said.
Separately, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said that nine flights heading to Southeast Asian nations from Taiwan were delayed due to an abnormality in the air control system of the Manila FIR.
“We have received the notice from the Manila FIR about a malfunction in its air-control system. To address the situation, flights were diverted to nearby airports or were asked to return to airports from which they departed,” the agency said.
“We are also coordinating with Fukuoka and Hong Kong Flight Information Regions to help guide flights to destinations in Southeast Asia,” it said.
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