Members of the Taiwan Railway Union yesterday went on a 100-hour hunger strike at the Taipei Railway Station after the Supreme Administrative Court ruled in favor of Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) in a case regarding a union protest in 2017.
Union members during the Lunar New Year holiday in 2017 protested to oppose overwork and demand better working conditions, during which they did not come to work. Although the protest was framed as workers exercising their right to take leave, it effectively functioned as a quasi-strike, disrupting train services nationwide.
The protest led to the TRC revising the work shift system, and increasing workers’ salaries and benefits. However, the union later filed a lawsuit against the company and the Ministry of Labor after 337 workers were marked with “unauthorized absences” for taking leave during the holiday.
Photo: CNA
The Taipei High Administrative Court ruled in favor of the union, but the Supreme Administrative Court reversed the ruling and ruled in favor of the TRC and labor ministry.
The union said the purpose of the hunger strike, which is to last until Monday, is to demonstrate that the Supreme Administrative Court’s ruling is unreasonable, adding that it is considering requesting a retrial.
“All reforms that the TRC implemented were results of the workers’ protests. The railway company has never actively addressed the workers’ demands for better working conditions,” union Secretary-General Chu Chih-yu (朱智宇) told a news conference at the Taipei Railway Station.
“The ruling from the Supreme Administrative Court not only determined the legality of he punishment for the TRC employees who joined the union’s protest, but would also affect the rights of all workers in Taiwan taking leave on national holidays,” Chu said. “The judicial remedy is not yet over. Workers that have been united in this cause will not bend their knees to the employer simply because of a court ruling.”
“The union will defend workers’ right to take leave until the end,” Chu said.
Other labor groups supporting the union’s hunger strike also vowed to unite workers’ unions across the nation for a larger protest.
The union said the core issue in the case was whether workers’ unions need to operate within the confines of company procedures during a labor dispute.
The Taipei High Administrative Court ruled in favor of the union, as the committee that determined that the TRC did not engage in unfair labor practices reached the decision without fulfilling the quorum for a meeting.
The TRC and the labor ministry appealed the ruling, and the case was retried.
The union won the retrial, with the court finding that the TRC engaged in unfair labor practices by not obtaining workers’ consent before arranging holiday work schedules and for marking them absent.
However, the Supreme Administrative Court said that the TRC’s regulations authorized the company to arrange workers’ schedules on weekdays and national holidays, so their actions did not contravene the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
TRC’s procedures for employees taking paid leave or leave of absence were not designed to impose unreasonable restrictions on workers, but are meant to apply consistent rules to all employees when they arrange their leave schedules, it said.
The Supreme Administrative Court said that although it acknowledged the union’s right to not settle disputes through established mechanisms, union members did not act according to the terms of their contracts and did not follow the “good faith” principle.
Therefore, TRC’s response to workers taking leave without permission did not constitute an unfair labor practice, the court said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
RSS