Freeways packed, rail staff on strike: it’s Lunar New Year in Taiwan

The China Post
Date: January 27, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The railway scrambled to keep trains on time Friday as hundreds of

Union members of Taiwan Railways Administration demonstrate outside the Taipei Train Station on Friday, Jan. 27 — the eve of the lunar Chinese New Year — protesting against poor working conditions. (CNA)

union members stayed home to protest working conditions, while the southbound lanes of freeways were packed from dawn as people rushed home on Lunar New Year’s eve.

The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) initiated emergency measures in response to the strike, including deploying junior level managers to join low-level workers, Director-General Lu Jie-shen (鹿潔身) said.

Assuring passengers that “every train will depart at its scheduled time,” Lu said he had 100 percent faith in the administration, and added that 90 percent of workers disapproved of the union’s behavior.

The industrial action was taken in retaliation of the TRA’s continued refusal to hire more workers in order to ease the burden on its current staff, Taiwan Railway Union Director-General Wang Chieh (王傑) said.

“The union has received more than 1,000 signatures in support of the campaign,” Wang said, “but because many members were pressured by higher-ups, we’re expecting (only) around 400 to 500 staff to no-show from Jan. 27 through 30.”   [FULL  STORY]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I accept the Privacy Policy

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.