EVA Cabins’ Strike Shakes Taiwanese Society

Authors

  • Charoenchai Agmapisarn Graduate School of Tourism Management (GSTM)National Institute of Development Administration
  • Wirunpat Punwatpinan

Keywords:

การประท้วงของสายการบิน พนักงานต้อนรับบนเครื่องบิน สายการบินของไต้หวัน สหภาพการบิน

Abstract

The largest and longest strike in the history of Taiwan’s airline industry occurred only 2 days after the announcement of the SKYTRAX Award on the 18th of June, 2019. The strike, which lasted for 17 days, was organized by the Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union (TFAU). More than 2,000 employees from EVA Air, the largest privately-owned Taiwanese airline, participated. The protesters demanded improved wages and contracts. Since the beginning of 2019, EVA Air has been heavily criticized for their treatment of their employee—the airline is known to be unresponsive to the employees’ demands while vigorously maintaining its positive image regardless of the employees’ state of mind. This strike could have been influenced by the success of the legendary 2016 strike by China Airlines, and the early 2019 strike by the pilots of the same airline.

Author Biography

Charoenchai Agmapisarn, Graduate School of Tourism Management (GSTM)National Institute of Development Administration

Assistant Prof. Dr. Agmapisarn completed his degrees through the School of Development Economics at National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) followed by Department of Applied Economics; Department of Economics at University of Minnesota at Twin Cities; and Department of Career Science at Kasetsart University in Tourism (with a second-class honors). In 2009 his Ph.D. paper was awarded the best graduate-level paper from Bank of Thailand. He also obtained a post graduate certificate in International Hospitality Operations (with Distinction) from the Les Roches International School of Hotel Management, Bluche, Switzerland under a NIDA scholarship. He has 16 years experience lecturing in microeconomics, labor economics, and tourism economics.

Since December 2014, he has served as a consultant and provided practical on-site trainings at various companies in Thailand, such as EAT ME: one of Asia’s 50 best restaurants, Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), and Thai Airways International (THAI). His focus includes areas such as service leadership, consistency in service excellency, service entrepreneurship, and personality development for work competencies and performances.

 

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Published

2022-02-28

How to Cite

Agmapisarn, C., & Punwatpinan, W. (2022). EVA Cabins’ Strike Shakes Taiwanese Society. NIDA Case Research Journal, 12(1), 42–64. Retrieved from https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/NCRJ/article/view/225899