China Eastern Airlines notifies about 70 Korean flight attendants facing dismissal ahead of regular employment conversion

China Eastern Airlines passenger plane / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon, Intern Reporter Lim Joo-hyung] China Eastern Airlines, one of China's three major private airlines, has sparked controversy by unilaterally notifying Korean contract flight attendants, who were about to be converted to regular employees, of their dismissal.

China Eastern Airlines informed the Korean contract flight attendants, who were about to be converted to regular employees, on the 9th that they would be dismissed on the 11th of this month.

The company reportedly explained to the flight attendants that due to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the Korea-China flight routes were severely affected, worsening management conditions and leaving no choice but to dismiss the Korean flight attendants.

The dismissed employees are said to be the 14th batch of flight attendants at the company. China Eastern Airlines is known to have hired new flight attendants on a two-year contract basis and then converted them to indefinite-term contracts, which are effectively regular employment.

The flight attendants who received dismissal notices had also signed new employment contracts and were instructed to undergo training, indicating measures taken with the intention of converting them to regular employees.

The flight attendants could not hide their bewilderment at the company's notification. Those who received dismissal notices refused individual retirement agreements and formed the "China Eastern Airlines 14th Batch Countermeasures Committee," planning to take legal action such as filing lawsuits to invalidate the dismissals.

Meanwhile, China Eastern Airlines currently employs about 200 Korean flight attendants, including contract workers. Among them, 73 flight attendants from the 14th batch signed new contracts for a two-year employment period and have been assigned to domestic Chinese routes, Korea-China routes, as well as overseas routes in Europe and the Americas.

In January, when COVID-19 first occurred in China, there were suspicions that the company was concentrating Korean flight attendants on domestic Chinese routes such as Wuhan.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.