The Taiwan Railway Labor Union (TRLU) will no longer push for strikes on holidays later this year after negotiations with the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) on pay issues made progress, it said Wednesday.
The union said its members will work on the Mid-Autumn Festival in September and Double Ten Day in October to reciprocate the good will shown by the government, which agreed to raise the minimum monthly salary for railway workers to NT$30,000 (US$994) on Aug. 1.
The raise, which affected 1,300 railway workers, was one of the key issues the union hoped the TRA would address before it is turned into a state-run corporation in 2024.
The Legislative Yuan passed a bill in May to restructure the TRA, amid public calls to reform the debt-ridden agency following two deadly train accidents in 2018 and 2021.
On Wednesday, the TRA also pledged in a statement to give bonuses to retain talent and raise “safety rewards” for train drivers starting in 2023, without elaborating.
According to the TRLU, it is currently negotiating with the TRA to finalize 16 new regulations related to the formation of the state-run corporation that will detail the future treatment of employees, and one of its goals will be to get all employees a monthly raise of NT$2,000.
Meanwhile, the TRA said it will set aside a NT$1.2 billion fund for employee benefits when the new company starts operations in 2024.
Employees will be able to determine how those funds will be distributed and over what period of time for small red envelopes that companies often give for the Lunar New Year, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival national holidays, the TRA said.
Once that fund runs out, however, the size of the employee benefit fund will depend on the new company’s operating conditions and results, the TRA said.
The TRLU has complained that TRA workers get only NT$1,900 per year in benefits compared with the more than NT$10,000 per year received by workers at Taoyuan International Airport Corporation, Chunghwa Post Co. and Taiwan International Ports Corporation.
The union staged a strike on Labor Day on May 1 to try to press its demands, but it did not create traffic chaos as had been anticipated.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel