Lawmakers yesterday accused Chunghwa Post (中華郵政) of being a sweatshop after the Ministry of Labor found numerous violations of the Labor Standard Act (勞動基準法) in postal offices nationwide.
Working conditions at the state-run company was under scrutiny at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday following the publication of a ministry report showing that 42.5 percent of Chunghwa Post’s violations over the past three years involved failure to pay employees for working overtime or give them compensatory days off.
Moreover, about 28 percent of the violations stemmed from the company’s failure to provide attendance sheets for employees when they clocked in or out.
Lawmakers also questioned the postal firm about the death of a senior mail carrier after collapsing on the job. Media reports said the mail carrier was sick, but could not take the day off because of a personnel shortage.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said the postal firm was apparently lying when it said it has fulfilled the requirements stated in the Labor Standard Act.
Citing the company’s annual financial report, Lee said that each mail carrier, on average, has to deliver about 1,000 mails and packages per day, while mail sorters have to process 4,000 mails and packages per day.
He suggested that Chunghwa Post chairman Philip Ong (翁文祺) try being a mail carrier for one day to see if he could handle the heavy workload.
Ong said he was willing to accept the challenge. He agreed that the division of mail delivery tasks was uneven, and said he would address the issue by adjusting the mail processing procedure.
Expressing his regret over the sudden death of the senior mail carrier, Ong said that since taking office, he has stressed the importance of having each post office follow labor laws and for management to accept administrative punishments if they fail to do so.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Kuo-cheng (林國正) and DPP Legislator Liu Chao-hao (劉櫂豪) said that the postal firm must ensure that its contractors receive fair wages, with the clause specifically listed in the labor contract.
Chunghwa Post said the family of the senior mail carrier who passed away while he was on duty would receive compensation from the company.
The postal firm registered a loss of about NT$2.9 billion (US$92.6 million) for its mail delivery business, including about NT$1.7 billion from its package delivery business, NT$110 million from prompt delivery mails and about NT$1 billion from express mails.
To ensure a fair division of labor, the company said it plans to have express mail carriers deliver prompt mail as well. Those in charge of prompt delivery of mails would be reassigned to other tasks.
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