TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwan Railway Labor Union (TRLU) on Tuesday (Dec. 20) accused the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) of refusing to consider its input on Taiwan Railways Administration’s (TRA) corporatization regulations and threatened to orchestrate a strike over the Lunar New Year holiday.

Currently, the MOTC plans to corporatize the TRA by 2024, though its plans have become the focus of an ongoing row between the ministry and TRA employees. Railway unions have repeatedly accused Minister Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) of refusing to respect TRA employees’ views on the issue.

The unions have doubts about how the MOTC will handle TRA debt, salaries, promotions, and pensions during and after corporatization, according to an earlier report. The parties’ disagreement resulted in a “no overtime” campaign earlier this year, under which train drivers and train station staff refused to work overtime on Labor Day.

Liberty Times cited TRLU Secretary General Wu Chang-chih (吳長智) as saying that while the union had joined the MOTC on Thursday (Dec. 15) to discuss and negotiate terms for regulations on funds needed for building, purchasing, and maintaining infrastructure and trains for corporatization, when the bill was announced the following day, it did not include the union’s suggestions.

According to a statement issued by the TRLU on Tuesday (Dec. 20), the union is very dissatisfied with all relevant regulations that have been announced so far. It accused the MOTC of merely claiming to respect unions’ communications as it has not taken any of the unions’ suggestions, making negotiations pointless and using the procedure only for MOTC’s internal reference.

Therefore, Wu said, the TRLU will hold an extended meeting on Tuesday (Dec. 27) to discuss the MOTC’s forceful announcement of regulations and disrespect of unions. It may plan a vote to decide whether it will orchestrate a strike over the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.

Wang was cited as saying that Deputy Minister Hu Hsiang-lin (胡湘麟) is currently in talks with unions and that there “should not be a problem.”