The Taiwan Railway Labor Union failed to follow through on a threat to paralyze train service yesterday, but voted in favor of launching a seven-day strike during the Lunar New Year.
The planned strike is designed to protest what the union says is the government's inefficiency in handling the debt-crippled rail service.
The union said 7,812 of its 14,268 members voted for the strike, which, according to the Union Law (工會法), constitutes a legal basis for the planned walkout.
Over the past few months, the union had been rushing to recruit support from its members to convene a massive conference during yesterday's Mid-Autumn Festival to conduct a vote for the strike. The conference would have kept most of its members from working during the holiday.
But rail service yesterday was normal, despite some 8,000 rail workers taking to the streets and joining the conference to protest the government's bid to privatize the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA).
Despite half the union's 15,000 workers attending the conference, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications managed to maintain normal rail service.
According to the Union Law, a vote for strike is allowed to take place in a union conference attended by more than half the union's members.
More than half the union's members joined the conference held on the Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office.
Around noon, railway workers from around the country began streaming into the square at the CKS Memorial Hall. They marched from the square to Ketagalan Boulevard at 1pm.
A union official said railway workers from southern counties such as Tainan and Pingtung set off at 1am in order to attend the conference.
Police estimated nearly 13,000 people joined the march, including union members' families and supporters.
The union pitched 18 tents and set up 112 voting booths at the open-air conference venue.
Led by Chang Wen-cheng (
"If the government does not respond to our five appeals, we will launch a seven-day strike during next year's Lunar New Year," Chang said.
Calling themselves "roadside orphans," union members vented anger with the government's alleged sacrifice of the state-run railway to benefit the private Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC).
THSRC is constructing a north-south high speed link that will shorten the trip between Taipei and Kaohsiung to 90 minutes.
The union, troubled by the government's leasing of TRA platforms in Taipei Main Station to the THSRC, accused the government of usurping TRA assets to satisfy the private firm.
It says the debt-ridden TRA will suffer another blow once the north-south high-speed rail line is completed.
"We feel so uncertain about our future. To be honest, we have faced great social pressure about convening such a conference on this important holiday. But we really need to defend our rights," said a union member from Hualien.
TRA Director-General Huang Te-chih (
"I still have to look at the details of their [the union's] decision. I am not very clear about their decision," Huang said.
"It is too early to comment on the conference. But my colleagues have been working very hard," he said.
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