Bus drivers voice their concerns

Public bus drivers working for the Taipei City Bus Administration petitioned city councilors for help yesterday, saying their jobs were under threat as the administration gradually reduces bus lines as a part of its privatization policy.

Some 60 protesters gathered in front of the Taipei City Council building yesterday to voice their concerns about the administration, saying the government agency failed to work out preferential package deals for them as it gradually reduces its scale of operation.

"As 18 bus lines had been removed from the administration's operations as of last month and were taken over by private bus firms, the total revenue [of the administration] dropped and so did our operation bonus which is calculated at 15 percent of the revenue," said Chang Chiung-hsien (張群顯), president of the drivers' self-help association which was set up outside the union system only two months ago.

The dwindling monthly pay, said Chang, was of special concern to drivers whose lines were removed and were later instructed to drive light feeder buses which normally take a far smaller number of passengers.

Driver Chung Ching-shui (鍾2M??/CHINESE>) said his monthly salary is expected to drop from its current level of about NT$55,000 to around NT$35,000 after he is transferred from driving bus No. 288 to running light feeder buses starting next month.

Chang also pointed to longer-term concerns for those drivers affected. "The retirement pay we can get [according to Taiwan's Labor Standards Law] will shrink," he said, because calculation of an employee's retirement pay is based on their monthly salary.

Chang and other bus drivers then handed to city councilors a petition with over 1,200 signatures -- amounting to over 75 percent of the administration's employees -- urging the city councilors to work as middlemen to negotiate with their employer.

Requests from protesters were clear.

They said the administration should suspend any plan to remove more bus lines from its umbrella before mapping out preferential packages for drivers who opt for voluntary retirement.

The preferential scheme, they said, should be announced at least one year before the administration is restructured to allow employees sufficient time to choose whether to leave or stay.

"We are haunted by a great sense of insecurity as they [referring to heads of the administration] always say everything is still under discussion," said one protester.

"Nothing has been finalized yet" was indeed the message heads of the administration conveyed yesterday during negotiations with protesters.

Wang Hsuan (?y揖?/CHINESE>), the bus administration's deputy director, said the city's transportation bureau had entrusted Taiwan Research Institute with studying the possibility of integrating the administration and the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation this October.

The conclusions, including how to offer preferential retirement schemes for the administration's employees, won't be available until July, Wang said.

Wang also said the administration had promised the union that it would not remove any bus lines from its current operations until the overall scheme for the administration's restructuring was finalized.

He also refuted the claim made by protesters regarding the drop in their monthly operation bonus.

"Since the administration decided in 1997 not to recruit any new personnel to replace leaving employees, the total number of drivers is decreasing," Wang said.