The Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union on Aug. 3 announced it will delist 22 members who went to work rather than show up at the China Airlines (CAL) flight attendants' strike on June 24, including 10 flight attendants who worked during President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) first state visit overseas.

Lin Chia-wei (林佳瑋), secretary-general of the union, said the decision to delist the flight attendants was to maintain unity among members. She emphasized that the decision was not directed against the flight attendants who worked on the presidential plane, and added that all delisted flight attendants can appeal the decision.

The Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said President Tsai was concerned that the delisted flight attendants’ rights may have been violated. He said the visit was an important diplomatic event and that the cabin crew on the presidential plane were contributing to foreign affairs, and therefore should not receive unfair treatment.

In an op-ed for the Chinese-language United Daily News, reporter Li Cheng-yu (李承宇) wrote that once a flight attendant joins the union, it means he or she must support the union’s identity. According to the three basic labor rights, union members should follow the rules of the union and maintain unity to achieve its goals. Therefore those who did not strike can be legally delisted by the union.

Netizens expressed different opinions regarding the issue. Some said the delisted flight attendants were just doing their job and that it is unfair to blame them for not participating in the strike, while others argued it was reasonable for the union to delist members who did not follow the union rules.

First Editor: Olivia Yang
Second Editor: Edward White