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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 TRA twisting new labor rules to pay workers less: union
Taiwan Railway Labor Union members yesterday protest outside Taipei Railway Station. Photo: CNA
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
About a dozen members of the Taiwan Railway Labor Union protested outside Taipei Railway Station yesterday, saying that the Taiwan Railways Administration （TRA） had twisted the newly enacted “one fixed day off and one flexible rest day” law to give employees less time off and less overtime pay.
The protesters said the union has been telling the TRA that employees should have at least one fixed full rest day since the Mid-Autumn Festival in September last year, and had gone through five rounds of negotiations with the administration until Dec. 23 last year.
However, they said the work schedule for this month showed that they still would not get any fixed full rest days, adding that the TRA has twisted the policy to pay less overtime.
Union member Chou Kai （周鍇） said the TRA has a three-shift work schedule — including a day shift and a night shift, both of which are 12 hours long — but as working for more than eight hours is considered overtime, the administration extended their “rest time” within their shifts to avoid paying overtime.
“However, the extended ‘rest time’ is not actual rest time, as we cannot leave or do whatever we want, such as taking a nap,” he said, adding that they are told to remain in contact and on standby to deal with possible emergency tasks during their rest, which does not count toward work hours.
Chou said the employees used to work on a day shift followed by a night shift and a rest day, and received compensatory overtime pay for working on rest days, but now the TRA calls the period between shifts a “fixed day off” or “flexible rest day.”
He said that although they are supposed to receive an additional NT$6,000 overtime pay per month following the implementation of the new labor law, they would receive about NT$5,000 less than they did before.
“For example, the moment we get off work from a night shift on Tuesday, the TRA starts counting the hours as our ‘rest day’ and tells us to come back to work after 24 hours,” Chou said, adding that many of the employees can be seen at their workplace every day, because they do not get a full day off.
Hung Jih-yueh （洪日月）, a union member and train conductor, said train conductors stay on duty for an average of about 269 hours a month, but the TRA only considers 178 of these working hours, while the remaining 91 hours, during which they have to be on standby, are not counted.
The members urged the agency to hire more employees so that the work schedule can operate smoothly and the employees are not overworked, and give employees one fixed full day off and one flexible full rest day, and negotiate with the union on the issue of twisting the 12-hour shift and requiring them to be on standby in addition to the eight-hour work time.
“If the TRA does not have the sincerity to negotiate, then we will stop all negotiations and take our day off in accordance with the law,” union chairman Wang Jieh （王傑） said.
He said the union would consider encouraging employees to take legal days off and refuse to work during the Lunar New Year holiday if the motion is passed at a union meeting.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
