The Taiwan Motor Transport Company Union yesterday vowed to sue the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) for negligence if it allows bus companies to overwork their drivers.
During a protest outside the ministry yesterday morning, the union said the Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) had made a unilateral decision on drivers’ work schedules during major national holidays.
“We agreed to a negotiation on Friday on the issue of flexible work schedule, but we did not expect the agency to unilaterally issue a statement after the meeting claiming that the issue had been thoroughly discussed and consent secured from bus operators and drivers,” the union said.
It wanted one more meeting with government officials and bus operators, it said.
The protest followed the DGH’s announcement over the weekend that it had reached an agreement with bus operators to allow public bus services to be added to the job categories to which the Labor Standards Act’s (勞動基準法) “flexible work schedule” applies.
Under the act, workers in these categories can work six consecutive days and then have one day off.
Under the new agreement, bus drivers would be allowed to work nine days in a row during major national holidays and then take one day off, but could work 10 days in a row before having a day off only in an extenuating circumstance, the DGH said.
The deal must still be approved by the ministry before it can be implemented.
If it is approved, bus firms would be able to start arranging their work schedules for the Lunar New Year holiday next year.
There have been fatal accidents in the past two years caused by overworked drivers, the union said, citing an April 23 incident when a truck driver struck and killed two highway police officers and another truck driver in Tainan and a tour bus accident on the Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3) on Feb. 13 last year that killed 33 tourists and injured 11.
“Does the ministry still want to allow bus operators to adopt a flexible work schedule for bus drivers, knowing that drivers are already working under adverse conditions? Have ministry officials forgotten about these fatal accidents and want more fatigued drivers on the roads?” union board member Fan Kuang-ming (范光明) said.
Huang Chia-teng (黃家騰), another board member, said bus companies rarely complied completely with the work schedule requirement in the Labor Standards Act.
“They are fined NT$9,000 to NT$50,000 at most if they are caught contravening labor regulations. They know they can earn the money back by offering more bus services. Taoyuan Bus Co, for example, has been fined multiple times in the past few years, but that has not stopped it from engaging in illegal labor practices,” Huang said.
“What they want is our endorsement for work schedule change so they can start asking drivers to work non-stop for nine days during the next Lunar New Year holiday,” he said.
DGH Transportation Division head Liu Yu-lin (劉育麟) said the proposed flexible work schedule would only be used during the Lunar New Year holiday, not on long weekends, for religious pilgrimages or other significant events.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to