Taipei, Sept. 14 (CNA) Unionized Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) drivers threatened to strike on the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and Double Ten National Day unless a pay dispute is resolved, early Thursday, but later said the Cabinet had agreed to their main demand.
The TRA is set to be converted into a state-run company next January, despite which the government has yet to finalize multiple internal regulations for the new entity, including one relating to train drivers’ long-held demand to be paid for the time they are on call.
On Thursday, the heads of Taiwan’s National Train Driver Union and the Taiwan Railway Labor Union (TRLU) delivered a petition to TRA Director-General Tu Wei (??), demanding a resolution to the on-call pay issue “as quickly as possible.”
If the issue is not resolved, 99 percent of TRA drivers have pledged to take the day off rather than work overtime during the Mid-Autumn Festival on Sept. 29, leaving fewer than 10 drivers on duty that day, the union said.
The TRLU said its goal is not to force a service suspension, but insisted such “strident” tactics were needed to force the government to finally address the workers’ demands.
In response to the appeal, Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (???) met later on Thursday with representatives of TRA, the TRA labor union, and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
A Cabinet official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the government had “responded positively” to the union’s demands, and was hopeful that a “win-win solution” could be found.
Meanwhile, TRLU Chairman Chen Shih-chieh (???) told CNA the Cabinet had agreed to introduce a regulation guaranteeing on-call pay for train drivers once the TRA is corporatized, and will likely sign off on it next week.
The TRLU will wait until the regulation is finalized before announcing its next steps, Chen added.
