The Taiwan Railway Labor Union on Tuesday said it would go on strike during the Mid-Autumn Festival in September if the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) fails to address low wages and guarantee that there will be no pay cuts after a planned restructuring.
The TRA must guarantee its employees reasonable salaries and benefits, to which they are entitled, before it is transformed into a state-run corporation, the union said.
The union last month asked for a 50 percent wage hike for all TRA workers, after the Legislative Yuan in May passed a bill to transform the TRA into a state-run corporation by 2024.
Photo: CNA
The plan aims to address public calls to reform the debt-ridden agency following two deadly train crashes in 2018 and last year.
The union is negotiating with the TRA to finalize 16 subsidiary regulations in the bill detailing the treatment of employees.
It has also called on the agency to provide a breakdown of a planned NT$80 billion (US$2.68 billion) capital injection for the proposed corporation.
The TRA has not explained how the money would be used, the union said, adding that it is concerned that its members’ benefits would not be guaranteed.
The union has urged the TRA to stipulate in the subsidiary regulations that it would not reduce the salaries of its employees, regardless of whether the planned corporation’s responsibilities affect its profits.
Asked about the union’s statement on the sidelines of a news conference in Taipei, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said “the agency’s revenue is about NT$24 billion per year, while its personnel costs are approximately NT$16 billion per year. The entire revenue would be used to cover personnel costs if every employee was given a 50 percent raise. It would be impossible.”
A company can be profitable only if it can keep personnel expenses to under 50 percent of total operating costs, he said.
However, Wang said that he supports raising the salaries of entry-level workers at the TRA, which he said are excessively low.
“Any big salary increase should be discussed after the railway corporation generates profit, or the corporation would accumulate a huge amount of debt in its initial phase. This is not the purpose of corporatizing the railway agency,” he said.
TRA has not responded to the union’s statement.
The union went on a strike on May 1, although the labor action caused less disruption to the TRA’s services than had been expected.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to