The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said it was making progress in negotiations with Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) workers on its plan to corporatize the agency, despite the Taiwan Railway Labor Union saying it would still strike on June 3 during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday.
Officials from the ministry, the TRA and the Ministry of Labor on Wednesday negotiated with union representatives on several issues, such as safety, asset management, workers’ benefits and over eventual negotiations on 16 subsidiary regulations of the proposed Taiwan railway corporation act, which the legislature is to consider.
Both sides failed to reach consensus on the issues after a nine-hour meeting.
The union said it would organize strikes on all the major holidays and the nine-in-one elections in November if ministry officials do not respond to its requests.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材), who returned to work yesterday after home isolation for COVID-19, told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee that both sides have made progress, even though no consensus has been reached.
Wang said he talked to union representatives on the telephone during his home isolation, adding that the ministry would present a response plan for the union’s planned June 3 strike.
“I agree with the union’s suggestion that ground-level TRA workers should be included as members of the TRA safety committee once it is established, as they encounter safety issues on the front lines,” he said.
The ministry and the union have yet to settle a disagreement over how the TRA’s assets should be managed, Wang said.
The union has insisted that all assets remain when the railway corporation is established, but the ministry said that some assets do not need to stay in the new state-run entity, and the government could cover amortization expenses and maintenance costs of these assets, he said.
The union also asked that the government raise the salaries of technical specialists and ground-level team leaders, which can be negotiated, Wang said.
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