Rail workers still fuming at minister

The Taiwan Railway Labor Union (台灣鐵路工會) says it won't meet with Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), and may stage a second protest against the ministry in addition to the one they have planned for this morning.

Despite her strongly worded criticism of the Taiwan Railway Administration (台鐵), Yeh said she welcomes further communication with her colleagues.

The union is upset with Yeh over remarks she made earlier of the administration.

After five accidents within the space of a week earlier this month, Yeh criticized the administration for its "big boss" attitude, which she said prevented the state-run transportation agency from providing quality service to the public.

As a result of the accidents, Chen Te-pei (陳德沛), director-general of the bureau, has resigned to be replaced by Huang Te-chi (黃德治).

The union said that the minister's comments reflected a lack of understanding of the problems facing the administration.

One of the union's major concerns, according to Chen, is that the government has not promised the same rights to railway workers as it has to the railway's management in the agency's privatization process.

In a letter distributed to 10,000 rail passengers yesterday, the union took responsibility for the overall inferior quality of rail service.

Chen said that the downsizing of the railway to comply with its privatization policy was the cause of its poor service.

Chen also blamed the ministry for not providing sufficient training to railway staff.

Most of all, Chen said, union workers feared what competition from the high-speed railway (高速鐵路) might mean for them.

Regardless of the pressures that come with privatization of the railway system, "the threat of the high-speed rail to the Taiwan Railway Administration is always there," said Chen, who also accused the ministry of partiality toward the high-speed rail project at the expense of the railway administration.

Although Yeh has invited union officials to sit down and talk, Chen said that the times chosen by the minister were inconvenient to union members.

Chen suggested that Yeh chose the weekend to talk to make it appear to the public that "the union was irrationally rejecting any communication."

Yeh told media yesterday that the railway union was welcome to come to her office.

Chen was pessimistic about the possibility of talks between Yeh and the union.

He said the union was ready for today's planned protest, in which hundreds of union members are expected to take part.

The union has not ruled out the possibility of staging a large-scale demonstration that may impact train operations.

In addition, the railway union may work with other unions of state-run companies, such as the Chunghwa Telecom Workers' Union (中華電信工會).