TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A train driver union has abandoned plans for an overtime ban during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday after talks with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), reports said Wednesday (Sept. 20).
The union said the MOTC had agreed to improve train safety while the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) would adjust a text determining workers’ fees, per CNA. As a result, travelers during the Sept. 29-Oct. 1 holiday are unlikely to face disruption on the nation’s rail network.
On May 1, 2022, most TRA staff did not turn up for work in a protest move against government plans to turn the railway operator into a state corporation as a response to a string of fatal accidents. MOTC Minister Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) reportedly wanted to avoid a repeat of the travel disruption.
TRA was scheduled to become a state corporation Jan. 1, but over half the necessary legislative amendments have still not been passed. The union said Wednesday it had accepted Wang’s insistence to supervise TRA’s safety and the administration’s promise to add bonus regulations into written documents.
A safety committee was in the process of being set up, with train staff likely to be included, the union said. The final details would only be revealed when the committee was unveiled, but there had already been discussions about its regulations.
Union leaders said they would closely monitor how the MOTC handled relevant issues over the next few weeks. Action would only be likely during the new year, and not as early as the Oct. 7-10 Double Ten National Day holiday, the report said.
