About 500 former freeway toll fee collectors yesterday protested outside the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, demanding that the ministry reopen negotiations with them.
Following the introduction of the electronic “pay as you go” system this year, in which freeway drivers are charged based on the distance traveled rather than by the number of toll booths passed, toll collectors found themselves out of jobs.
In the contract between Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co (FETC) and the National Freeway Bureau, the contractor promised the government that it would help the collectors find new jobs.
Photo: CNA
Freeway Toll Collector Self-Help Association president Lin Bi-huang (林碧煌) said he was encouraged by the workers of closed factories winning their court battle against the Ministry of Labor.
He questioned the validity of the labor agreement, saying that the negotiators were not equipped with the full information during their talks with the bureau.
Lin added that the collectors were promised that they would be offered jobs that are close to their homes. However, some of them found out, for example, that they would need to leave their families in the south to work in the north, which was unacceptable, Lin said.
Photo: CNA
The company also exaggerated its success in helping collectors find suitable jobs, Lin said.
“It [the contractor] said that there were two job openings for cashiers at MOS Burger. In fact, between 70 and 80 people applied for the positions,” he said.
Some of the toll collectors said that the company even asked female collectors if they would be interested in becoming truck drivers or handling fish at supermarkets.
Bureau Chief Secretary Cheng Chorng-been (鄭崇賓), who accepted the petition from the protesters, said the labor agreement is legally effective and has been submitted to the Labor Affairs Department of New Taipei City for reference.
“The negotiation could only be reopened if the labor agreement, through legal procedures, was deemed ineffective,” Cheng said.
FETC spokesperson Rachel Chen (陳世莉) said the company has found 1,000 job openings within the Far Eastern Group for the toll collectors, which is twice the number of jobs needed.
As of yesterday, 309 collectors have been set up with interviews, in which 174 found jobs, she said.
Most of the jobs are in Greater Tainan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pintung, Chiayi and Yilan.
Among the job openings, about 20 percent do not require specific educational requirements, while about 30 percent require high-school education or less. Nearly two-thirds do not require previous related job experience.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and