Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) yesterday told Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) employees that their salaries and benefits would remain in place after the agency is transformed into a state-run corporation.
TRA employees are civil servants recruited through a government railway service exam.
Once a state-run railway company is established, each employee would have five years to consider whether to continue being a civil servant or become a company employee, Wang told lawmakers of the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
Photo: CNA
The dual-track system would ensure that employee rights are protected, and gives the railway operator the room to hire top-notch railway service professionals.
Wang made the remarks as the committee yesterday reviewed amendments to the Railway Act (鐵路法) proposed by lawmakers and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, which would give the nation’s largest railway operator more flexibility to manage its properties. The committee is to continue its meeting tomorrow.
A committee hearing scheduled for Thursday is to discuss draft statutes governing the establishment of a state-run Taiwan Railway Corp.
The Taiwan Railway Labor Union said that the committee should not review the draft statute until ministry officials have negotiated terms with the union.
It also said that union members would protest at the Legislative Yuan tomorrow against what it considers to be an arbitrary move from the transportation ministry.
The draft statute is flawed, the union said.
It fails to address safety issues facing the TRA, and does not guarantee that the salary adjustment mechanism of the civil servants and military personnel would remain after the formation of the corporation, it said.
Recruitment exams would be administered by the company rather than the Examination Yuan, the union said, adding that the government might not consider the railway workers to be civil servants after the transition.
Workers would be required to vacate TRA dormitories after the company is established, without any improvement in salary or benefits, the union said.
Wang told reporters on the sidelines of the committee meeting that the union “is clearly out of the loop,” adding that the ministry plans to provide details of the draft statute on Thursday.
“We are not adding regulations on railway safety reform in the draft statute, because we are conducting the reform now, and it is an ongoing matter,” Wang said. “State-run company employees enjoy the same benefits as civil servants. This year, they received a 4 percent pay raise. This part does not need to be highlighted in the draft statute either.”
TRA employees cannot be evicted from dormitories, he said, adding that the Examination Yuan would continue to authorize the TRA to hold railway recruitment examinations.
All workers in the state-run railway company would have opportunities to receive raises and better benefits, whether they maintain the status of a civil servant or are hired after a company is established.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said that the ministry is responsible for explaining to TRA employees the benefits and drawbacks of being a civil servant or a state-run company employee.
The ministry should disclose to TRA workers what it would do with TRA’s accumulated debts of more than NT$140 billion (US$4.91 billion), “using words that they can understand,” Liu said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and