Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilors yesterday questioned the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation’s (TRTC) new regulation that employees working at MRT stations avoid wearing masks.
DPP councilors Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) and Chou Wei-you (周威佑) condemned the TRTC for ignoring the health of both employees and MRT passengers amid fears of a swine flu epidemic.
The councilors said they had received complaints from TRTC employees.
“The MRT system is used by more than 1.3 million passengers each day. We don’t understand the reasoning behind the company’s decision to ask employees not to wear masks at such a critical time,” Wu said yesterday in front of MRT Taipei City Hall Station.
BULLETIN
A TRTC bulletin to company employees on April 17 said that those working at MRT stations should avoid wearing masks to maintain the company’s image and provide the best service to passengers.
Those who had flu would be allowed to wear masks after reporting the condition to supervisors, but they should not wear the masks for more than seven days, the bulletin said.
Chou challenged TRTC, and urged the company to rescind the rule.
“The regulation threatens the health of both employees and passengers, and it’s inhumane to ban workers from wearing masks for the sake of the company’s image,” he said.
PRE-SWINE FLU
Hu Cheng-lun (胡正倫), director of TRTC’s station service division, said the bulletin was posted before swine flu became an issue. The company canceled the regulation after the nation initiated its swine flu prevention mechanism on April 28, and all employees are now allowed to wear masks, he said.
Hu said the company established the regulation after the division received complaints from MRT police that some station service workers wore masks all the time and many passengers turned to the police for inquires as a result.
The company also demanded station service workers avoid wearing masks unless necessary because passengers could not hear them clearly when they wore a mask, and that adversely affected the quality of service, he said.
In related news, the Tourism Bureau yesterday said that negotiations between travelers and travel agencies over refunds for trips canceled because of swine flu would be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Tourism Bureau Secretary-General Wu Chao-yen (吳朝彥) made the announcement during a daily press conference at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
As for travel to Mexico, the source of the recent outbreak, Wu said that the government would recommend canceling trips.
By law, consumers will be able to get their money back, except for fees of no more than 5 percent of the cost of the entire trip, Wu said, encouraging people to call the bureau at 0800-211-734 for further information.
Meanwhile, CDC personnel decided to quarantine a China Airlines flight attendant and a 12-year-old Filipino boy who arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning on a flight from an unconfirmed location in the US.
Both of them displayed fevers and other flu-like symptoms at the quarantine checkpoint.
The flight attendant and the boy were escorted to Taoyuan Hospital for a six-hour quarantine while awaiting test results.
Results later proved negative for swine flu.
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