Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have demanded that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) and the Ministry of Labor (MOL) draft amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法) to safeguard Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) employees after reports of attacks.
The amendments should implement more severe sentences for the use of force, threats against public transportation employees, publicly insulting employees or other illegal acts that would obstruct TRC workers from carrying out their duties, KMT Legislator Hung Mong-kai (洪孟楷) said.
Hung also urged the MOTC to reference the MOL’s Guidelines on Preventing Illegal Actions Obstructing the Line of Duty (執行職務遭受不法侵害預防指引) and draft regulations that would protect public transportation employees.
Photo: CNA
Recent cases of physical and verbal violence against TRC employees showed that the corporation has few tools to protect its workers, Taiwan Railway Union secretary-general Chu Chih-yu (朱智宇) said.
Chu said the company also allegedly told workers to keep quiet about incidents and the issue would not have been brought to light if not for a recent incident in Chiayi County’s Dalin Station, which sparked a public outcry.
He was referring to an incident on Aug. 7, when a female TRC employee was struck by an elderly person for attempting to stop them from riding a bike through the station lobby.
Local media on Aug. 13 reported that the elderly person brought a group, including Democratic Progressive Party Chiayi County Councilor Chiang Chih-ming (江志明), to allegedly further pressure the employee.
The union is demanding that the ministries draft amendments that would better protect public transportation employees, Chu said.
Workers should not be burdened with post-occupational hazard crisis management and psychological reviews, Taichung Public Transportation Industry Union president Wu Chin-ming (吳晉銘) said.
Meanwhile, Metro Train Drivers Union president Huang Yi-chia (黃翊家) said that the amendments should provide guarantees that extend to security personnel and cleaning crews, who are usually the ones dealing with drunk people causing conflicts on trains.
The repeated violence against public transportation officials means that the government has failed to provide a practical policy to ameliorate the situation, KMT Legislator Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) said.
The TRC board of directors and the MOTC should also consider whether company employees should be given body cameras and whether railway police patrol frequency needs to be increased, Yang added.
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