《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Ex-toll collectors threaten to block roads

Former freeway toll collectors threatened to paralyze national freeways today to protest against the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ disregard of their demands for compensation.

The toll collectors lost their jobs in January after the launch of a distance-based electronic toll collection system, which rendered toll booths obsolete.

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While the National Freeway Bureau provided the toll collectors with the option of taking a severance payment equivalent to five months salary or job opportunities at new system contractor Far Eastern Group （遠東集團）, some of the collectors demanded that they be compensated based on the Labor Standards Act （勞動基準法） and refused to take the severance payment or the job opportunity.

Having failed to elicit any substantial response from the ministry, last week some of toll collectors and labor rights activists began to camp outside the ministry and started a hunger strike lasting 167 hours. They were supposed to hold a press conference yesterday afternoon to accuse the ministry of giving them a cold-blooded response to their demands.

However, during the press conference protesters pulled aside barriers and barbed wire, then started throwing eggs at the building. Some of them managed to break through the security cordon, but were stopped by police officers.

Six protesters were injured amid the clashes and were subsequently being treated at nearby hospitals. One of protesters alleged that he was kicked by two to three police officers after being dragged to the floor, adding that one of them taunted him when he had trouble breathing.

Meanwhile, former toll collector Ho Huei-ling （何惠鈴） was sent to a hospital after being on a hunger strike for seven days. Before being taken to an emergency room, Ho said in a weak voice that she could bear the physical pain, but she could not stand the psychological pain caused by the ministry. She then asked when Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih （葉匡時） would come out and face the protesters.

Yeh said that the ministry has done all it could possibly have done within the limits of the law to respond to the appeals of the former toll collectors, adding that the National Freeway Bureau has also done everything it could do to help them find jobs.

“Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co （遠通電收） has also offered 150 jobs that are within a 30km commute from their homes. However, some of the former toll collectors have decided to not even give them a try,” Yeh said.

Regarding the protesters’ threat, Yeh said that the ministry cannot do what it is not legally authorized to do, regardless of the extreme actions the former toll collectors plan to take.

“Paralyzing the freeways will not help them win public sympathy. I hope that they can restrain themselves,” he said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES