The Taiwan Railway Labor Union (TRLU) yesterday vowed to launch a massive members' conference on Sept. 11 to protest what it says is the government's sacrificing of the 115-year-old railway enterprise to the benefit of the nation's north-south high-speed railway.
Sept. 11 is the date of the Mid-Autumn Festival and the union called for travelers to use other means of transportation to return home for the holiday, so that the union's move would not affect them.
PHOTO: CNA
Union chairman Chang Wen-cheng (張文正) said that about 14,000 railway workers will attend the September conference to discuss a strike during next year's Lunar New Year holidays.
As a significant number of railway workers will be attending the conference, the union apologized to the public yesterday for the inconvenience it may cause them.
Some trains are expected to be cancelled because of the high number of railway workers that will take leave to join the conference.
"We decided to do so because we had no other choice. We have the right to seek a way to survive," the union said.
Union members gathered on a platform at the Taipei Railway Station yesterday afternoon to announce their decision.
The traditional railway system under the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) faces two grave challenges: settling its disputes with the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) and the government's plan to turn the TRA into a corporation.
The union's grievances against the THSRC, the company constructing the north-south railway, first emerged when the government asked the TRA to share Taipei Railway Station's platforms, tracks and tunnels with the THSRC.
The union alleged that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications apparently favored the THSRC when negotiating between the TRA and the THSRC about the distribution of Taipei Railway Station's platforms and tracks.
TRA deputy director Hsu Ta-wen (
"If the government can manage to meet the union's demands, its members will not need to hold the conference in September," was Hu's only response.
Viewing the completion of the high-speed railway as a serious threat to the survival of the traditional railway system, the union has launched a number of protests over the past three years, all without avail.
The high-speed railway, with its trains designed to travel at a speed of more than 300kph, will effectively cut the traveling time between Taipei and Kaohsiung to 90 minutes.
In contrast, the fastest trains currently provided by the TRA take at least four to five hours to travel between the two cities.
The union said workers of the deficit-burdened traditional railway enterprise are facing job losses because the government plans to revitalize the traditional railway, partly by axing jobs and reducing salaries.
Accusing the government of ignoring their pleas to secure proper operation of the traditional railway while the high-speed railway is under construction, the union has been staging protests against construction of the new railway since 2001.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan