INHUMANE CONDITIONS:
Both Chunghwa Express and Taiwan Railways staff work in environments with a high risk of heat-related injuries and action is needed, unions said
By Yang Cheng-yu
and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The New Power Party (NPP) and workers’ unions yesterday called on the government to establish a legal basis for workers to take days off due to high heat or offer better wages for working in hot environments.
Taipei alone issued 12 heat alerts in the past month, NPP Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said, adding that the number of patients seeking medical help due to heat-related injuries has also increased, highlighting the urgent need for regulations to protect workers.
Airport ground crew, construction workers, postal workers, caddies, delivery drivers, security firm employees and other workers, who have to endure long hours of work in extreme heat, have the right to refuse to work, and additional wages or subsidies need to be offered when they work under possibly harmful conditions, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Railways Administration
Only three of the companies that failed a heat prevention inspection last year were fined, with the majority of them given a grace period to make improvements, he said.
Chiu said the government needs to ensure that such grace periods have a strict deadline and increase inspections on companies with a violation record, he said.
Chunghwa Express Workers’ Union president Kuo Li-chih (郭勵志) said that employees work outdoors during the day and constantly move from high heat to air-conditioned environments, which exposes them to a higher risk of heat injury.
The union urges the company to adjust its work hours and offer subsidies for employees working outside in a high-heat environment, he said.
Taiwan Railway Industries Workers’ Union secretary-general Chu Chih-yu (朱智宇) said the Ministry of Labor’s inspections do not consider hazard from hot indoor environments.
The Taiwan Railway Administration’s engineers have to endure a high-heat environment when welding or doing intense manual labor, while they have no other tool than fans to mitigate the heat, he said.
These inhumane working conditions have caused nearly 300 people to quit their jobs in the past three years, Chu said.
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