About 50 drivers from Taichung-based SF E-bus (四方電巴) yesterday went on strike after the company failed to pay their salaries as scheduled for a third time, halting 470 services on 13 routes, the Taichung Transportation Bureau said.
The city government mobilized drivers from four other bus companies to fill the gap in labor, Taichung Transportation Bureau Director-General Yeh Chao-fu (葉昭甫) said, adding that it also fined the bus operator NT$2.35 million (US$72,767) and NT$90,000 for breaching its operating contract with the city government and the Highway Act (公路法).
Meanwhile, the drivers went to the city government yesterday to apply for labor dispute mediation, complaining that the latest incident is the third time this year the company had failed to pay their salaries on time.
Photo: Su Chin-feng, Taipei Times
SF E-bus first started reporting pay delays last month, a representative of the bus drivers told the Central News Agency, adding that the company failed to pay them again on Friday last week and did not provide an explanation.
While SF E-bus later guaranteed that salary payments would be made no later than Sunday after it receives a subsidy from the government, the representative said the vast majority of drivers refused to “cooperate again,” demanding that their salaries be paid immediately and the termination of their contracts with the company.
In response, the Taichung Labor Affairs Bureau said that it fined SF E-bus NT$40,000 on Wednesday last week after its employees filed complaints about the pay delay last month, adding that it plans to hold a dispute settlement meeting between the management and the drivers.
Yeh also called for the intervention of SF E-bus’ parent company, Tang Eng Iron Works Corp (唐榮), which is 11 percent owned by the central government.
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