The Ministry of Labor should stand up to the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) over the enforcement of labor rules, the Taiwan Railways Union said yesterday, accusing the agency of disrespecting the ministry’s Unfair Labor Practices Adjudication Board.
About 20 union members and labor rights advocates joined the board’s first hearing on the TRA’s response to union members “taking a legal holiday” during the Lunar New Year holiday.
“The Taiwan Railways Administration should wait for the board’s ruling before making any decision. If it continues to mark our members as being absent without leave, even if the board rules to the contrary, that would be tantamount to holding the board’s ruling in contempt,” union president Wang Jieh (王傑) said, criticizing TRA Director-General Jason Lu’s (鹿潔身) statement that the agency would hand out demerits to union members regardless of the board’s ruling.
Photo: CNA
Union members refused to work during the Lunar New Year holiday to protest the agency’s refusal to consider shift changes, saying they were entitled to time off during the national holiday.
Lu has said that while the agency would wait until after the board’s ruling to announce the names of those who will be punished, its decision will be based solely on the ruling of an internal employee evaluation committee, with 331 union members to be given major or minor demerits.
Wang said the agency’s shift structure has no legal foundation following the expiration of an administrative rule.
He called on the ministry to push for shift reform.
The union says that the system denies them a “mandatory rest day,” because the revolving shift structure includes no guaranteed day off.
While an adjudication board ruling in the union’s favor would allow the Ministry of Labor to fine the TRA, the agency could still issue demerits, despite the penalty, union consultant Cheng Ya-lin (鄭雅菱) said.
The union plans to bring an administrative lawsuit against the TRA if it maintains its course of action, Cheng said.
Ministry of Labor Department of Employment Relations Director Wang Hou-wei (王厚偉) said that the board is expected to issue a ruling before June.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that a surge in respiratory illnesses in China has been caused by at least seven types of pathogens, and small children, elderly people and immunocompromised people should temporarily avoid unnecessary visits to China. The recent outbreak of respiratory illnesses in China is mainly in the north and among children, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said on Monday. Data released by the Chinese National Health Commission on Sunday showed that among children aged one to four, the main pathogens were influenza viruses and rhinoviruses, while among children aged five to 14, the main pathogens
A New Taipei City hotpot restaurant could be fined after a rat dropped from the ceiling and landed on a customer’s plate last week, the New Taipei City Department of Health said yesterday after conducting an inspection. A woman recently posted on the “I am a Banciao resident” (我是板橋人) social media group saying that she had been eating with a friend at Chien Tu Shabu Shabu Hotpot Restaurant’s Shuangshi B branch in Banciao District (板橋). “While still eating, a big rat suddenly dropped down from the ceiling, landing on a plate next to a hotpot,” she said. “Later on, a member of
A new poll of Taiwanese voters found the top opposition candidate for president jumping past the ruling party’s hopeful into the lead position ahead of January’s election — the latest twist in a drama-filled race. Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had an approval rating of 31.9 percent versus 29.2 percent for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the poll released yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed. The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), ranked third with 23.6 percent, according to the survey conducted
Actress Hu Ling (胡伶) on Saturday became the first Chinese movie star to walk the red carpet of the Golden Horse Awards since 2019, when China boycotted Taiwan’s biggest awards show over political tensions. Beijing banned its entertainers from joining the awards, dubbed the Chinese-language Oscars, after documentary director Fu Yu (傅榆) voiced support for Taiwan’s formal independence in an acceptance speech in 2018. There were no films from China in the 2019 nomination list and several Hong Kong movies dropped out that year, while several big commercial productions were conspicuously absent at both the 2020 and 2021 awards. However, Hu, nominated for
RSS