The Taiwan Railway Labor Union (TRLU) yesterday gathered in front of the Examination Yuan's Ministry of Civil Service (MOCS) to protest a decision by railway administration officials refusing employees' request to take leave to attend the conference. The protest comes after controversy over the union's plans to disrupt railway operations during Mid-Autumn Festival by holding a members' conference that would keep some 10,000 employees from work.
"Our vacation days are governed by the Civil Servant Services Act (公務員服務法), and yet we do not get the benefits given to Civil Servants," said Chang Wen-Cheng (張文正), TRLU chairman.
Roughly 60 TRLU members marched in front of the Ministry of Civil Service to voice their grievances. The ministry Vice Minister Wu Tsung-cheng (吳聰成) came out to respond to the union's complaints.
Wu promised to consider the TRLU's requests and accepted the petition that the TRLU had prepared.
According to the Ministry of Civil Service, civil servants are governed by a different set of labor laws which states that the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) employees must work their shifts even during the Mid-Autumn holiday. The TRA employees include civil servants, laborers and employees who fit somewhere in between because they are civil servants who are also legally categorized as laborers.
"According to article 24 of the Civil Servant Services Act, civil servants who are also laborers are given a choice as to whether their vacation time will be governed by the Labor Standards Act (
The civil service ministry further elaborated saying that the Civil Servant Service Act clearly states that employees who work shifts must take their vacations in accordance with those shifts. These employees do not automatically get a break during national holidays, the ministry said.
The TRLU however rebutted saying that while they are expected to abide by civil-servant-vacation regulations, they are not given pensions, marriage and death benefits or children's education allowances as well as other benefits that civil servants get.
"Since I have not been given the benefits of a civil servant, I am a laborer, and my vacation time should not be governed by the Ministry of Civil Service. Give me these benefits and I will abide by the Civil Servant Service Act," Chang said.
MOSC official, Chou Chiu-ling (
"If you're working for the government, then you have an obligation to the public. If the vacation restrictions of a public servant are a problem for you, then why are you working for the government?" Chou asked.
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