TWO Taiwanese flight attendants who are employed by Singapore Airlines (SIA) claim they have been discriminated against by the company.
One of them, who is known only as Miss Liu, claims she was promised a salary of NT80,000 (S$3,500) but it turns out to be only NT35,000 (S$1,500).
Liu, who has been flying for three years, made allegations against the Singapore-based airline company in an interview with Taiwan news channel CTI that it had falsely advertised the basic salary for cabin crew in its recruitment drive in Taiwan.
In the news clip, which has gone viral, she even alluded to the fact that aspiring air stewardesses, like her, have been deceived.
Another SIA stewardess, who only identified herself as "Xiao Q", was also unhappy with SIA even though she had been working for the company for some 11 years now.
Taiwanese employees are inferior to Singaporean employees, according to her.
She also claimed that Singaporean flight attendants were given priority in training for Airbus A380 operations. SIA operates the A380 to Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo and Zurich.
Both Liu and Xiao Q also alleged that Singaporean flight attendants were given the opportunity to fly on long haul routes, whereas the Taiwanese attendants could only work on roundabout flights to nearby destinations, in which case, they had to return on the same day, disqualifying them of allowances.
Apparently, Singapore attendants could also transfer to ground duties after 15 years, but it was not the case with Taiwanese employees. Also, there were no pregnancy benefits for female stewardesses.
Is this a case of unfair treatment or misunderstanding?
AsiaOne contacted Singapore Airlines to find out if, indeed, the claims of the two Taiwan air stewardesses were true.
A SIA spokesman told AsiaOne: "Our ads state very clearly that the salary figure cited is for basic salary and various allowances."
SIA, which is now recruiting cabin crew from Asia-Pacfic countries, stated this on its company website: "Upon graduation (from training), you can look forward to a basic salary and various allowances amounting to about $3,500 a month."
The Airline spokesman also added: "The majority of our cabin crew are trained to operate on multiple fleet types which covers most of our destinations, as long as they meet English proficiency requirements. We do employ a small number of crew from Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan who primarily operate on routes that serve those specific markets, to fill the need in terms of local cultural and language requirements of our customers. This is made known to them during recruitment."
