The Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC) labor union yesterday decided to use its emergency fund to hire attorneys for employees implicated in the MRT ticketing scandal.
Union chairman Wang Yu-wen (王裕文) said yesterday after a meeting that the union decided to use about NT$1 million from its emergency fund to hire attorneys for those who were laid off and assist others with legal consultations. The union counts 1,650 members, or more than 90 percent of the corporation's employees, according to Wang.
The ticketing scandal involves 127 employees -- including nine station chiefs -- at 50 MRT stations. They allegedly tampered with EasyCard records to allow themselves free rides over the past few months. Eight of them, who had allegedly altered ticket records up to 70 times, were fired by the corporation and 115 others were handed to the prosecutor's office for further interrogation. It is estimated that these employees embezzled at least NT$650,000 from the company by modifying ticket records.
Union representatives protested that it was wrong for the corporation to fire eight workers before the judicial verdict was delivered.
Wang said the union will apply the third part of the 12th article of the Labor Standards Law (勞基法) in negotiations with the corporation. According to this part of the article, employers can only fire employees once they have been found guilty on criminal charges.
The TRTC applied the fourth part of the 12th article of the law to fire eight employees -- this part allows employers to lay off employees who violate their working contracts or company regulations, Wang said.
"Although the employees made mistakes, I think it is a result of the corporation's flawed management and personnel system," he said.
He said that the amount the employees avoided paying was "not much" and they did not attempt to "commit the mistakes jointly."
"It is unfair for the public and the media to say that these employees were engaged in embezzlement collectively," Wang said.
"In fact, one of those who were fired had once found NT$300,000 in cash in the station and returned it to its owner. They are not as greedy as people imagine."
Wang denied a rumor that the union planned to go on strike if the company did not give in to their demands.
"We hope this incident will be brought to an amicable close through the Bureau of Labor Affairs' conciliation process," Wang said.
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