Taipei Times
Date: Apr 07, 2017
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter
The Ministry of Labor should stand up to the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA)
Taiwan Railways Union members demonstrating outside the Ministry of Labor in Taipei yesterday hold placards showing the number of days they took off during the Lunar New Year holiday. Photo: CNA
over the enforcement of labor rules, the Taiwan Railways Union said yesterday, accusing the agency of disrespecting the ministry’s Unfair Labor Practices Adjudication Board.
About 20 union members and labor rights advocates joined the board’s first hearing on the TRA’s response to union members “taking a legal holiday” during the Lunar New Year holiday.
“The Taiwan Railways Administration should wait for the board’s ruling before making any decision. If it continues to mark our members as being absent without leave, even if the board rules to the contrary, that would be tantamount to holding the board’s ruling in contempt,” union president Wang Jieh (王傑) said, criticizing TRA Director-General Jason Lu’s (鹿潔身) statement that the agency would hand out demerits to union members regardless of the board’s ruling.
Union members refused to work during the Lunar New Year holiday to protest the agency’s refusal to consider shift changes, saying they were entitled to time off during the national holiday. [FULL STORY]
