The Taiwan Railway Labor Union (TRLU) is still planning to go on strike on Sunday after it again failed to reach an agreement with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday morning.
As of yesterday, the union had mobilized approximately 13,000 Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) workers to strike on International Workers’ Day in protest against the ministry’s plan to corporatize the railway agency.
As no TRA trains are to run on Sunday, the ministry on Friday said that it planned to use high-speed rail trains and buses to transport people.
Photo: Cheng Wei-chi, Taipei Times
Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) on Monday oversaw a drill at Taipei Railway Station to prepare the railway agency for the strike.
Today, the legislature’s Transportation Committee is to hear details of the ministry’s response plan for Sunday.
Wang met with union representatives for the third time yesterday morning.
During the meeting, he said he hoped that the union would allow some trains to operate.
“The union maintains the position that its members will not work on May 1. We respect their decision and will execute the response plan,” Wang told reporters after the meeting.
Although Wang failed to dissuade the union from proceeding with its plan, he said that the meeting led to constructive dialogue and promised to address the workers’ issues one at a time as the ministry restructures the railway agency into a state-run corporation.
“Union members spoke of many issues related to safety and their work environment, to which I listened attentively,” he said. “We will continue to communicate with them and incorporate issues that employees are concerned with the most in our reforms of the TRA.”
A small number of train drivers have indicated that they are willing to work on Sunday, Wang said.
Whether a temporary train service schedule would be available would depend on the number of train drivers who are present on Sunday, Wang said, adding that the agency does not yet have a rough estimate.
Lawmakers have about one month to negotiate seven unresolved articles in the draft Taiwan Railways Corporation act, which secured preliminary approval at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee last week, Wang said.
Negotiations between the union and the ministry went peacefully, TRLU chairman Chen Shih-chieh (陳世杰) told reporters.
“We are not against a comprehensive reform of the agency, but we decided to exercise our right to take International Workers’ Day off because we were not being respected when the ministry drafted the statute for the establishment of a railway corporation,” Chen said, adding that the public should not stigmatize TRA workers for taking the proper course of action.
Although the ministry keeps highlighting the benefits and bonuses that TRA workers would receive once Taiwan Railway Corp is established, it has failed to offer details about how the company can grow sustainably, Chen said, adding that the union hopes to participate in negotiations on the draft act.
Asked whether the union would go on strike during the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day long weekends as well, Chen said that it would depend on how the ministry communicates with the union after the International Workers’ Day long weekend.
“We hope that things will move in a positive direction if the ministry gains the trust of TRA workers,” he said.
Pilots Union Taoyuan said in a statement that it supports the TRLU’s action, which is “inspiring” to many pilots.
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