EVA Airways said Friday it will appeal a district court ruling which sided with officials from the Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union in a suit launched by the carrier over damages caused by a 20-day flight attendant strike in 2019.
EVA Air, one of Taiwan’s major carriers, released a statement about its plan to appeal after the Taipei District Court ruled earlier Friday in favor of the union’s officials, because the strike action was deemed lawful under the Act for Settlement of Labor-Management Disputes.
The court said it did not find that the union had engaged in what the carrier alleged was improper actions such as organizing the strike or making excessive demands.
Following the ruling, lawyer Chen Kai-hung (???), who represents the union’s officials, said he hoped the court’s decision could mark an end to the dispute, and the practice of employers suing workers for fighting for their rights.
EVA Air said it would continue resorting to legal means in order to protect the interests of its shareholders and to ensure sustainable operations, after it receives a copy of the formal ruling and holds discussions with its legal team.
The suit was launched by the carrier on June 21, 2019, after its flight attendants began the strike a day earlier, with the company seeking damages of NT$34 million (US$1.19 million).
Although the strike ended on July 10 that year, after EVA Air signed an agreement with the union on July 6 on improving work conditions and a three-year period of no walkouts, which was set to expire in July this year, the carrier did not drop the suit against the 13 union officials.
Calling the 2019 strike an ambush organized by the union, EVA Air said Friday the strike cost the company losses of over NT$40 million, as well as damaged its reputation, because of interruptions to its passengers’ travel plans.
According to EVA Air, it was forced to cancel 2,200 flights affecting around 400,000 passengers from June 20 to July 19 in 2019, before it was able to resume normal operations.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel