TRA WARNS STAFF TO WORK, UNION SAYS IT'S A THREAT|台鐵:春節未按表出勤依曠職論 工會批:威脅打壓

At the beginning of this month, train tickets for services during the Lunar New Year Holiday went on sale and were immediately sold out. This Saturday, additional tickets for eight Hualien and Taitung trains exclusively available to residents in Eastern Taiwan will open for booking. In related news, the TRA union said it will operate a "work to rule" and take four days off during the Lunar New Year. As the TRA responds to this, its moves are further criticized by the union as oppressive and heavy-handed. Taiwan Railways Administration union will protest the lack of staff and long hours by implementing a work to rule from Lunar New Year's eve to the third day of the Lunar New Year. The TRA union produced a document from TRA sent to the staff of each station asking if staff would volunteer to work continuous shifts. This would lead to overtime work. As there are not enough staff, the TRA also said that signals for departures would be dependent on the situation at the time, leading the union to point out that TRA didn't seem to be concerned about safety. ==HSIAO NONG-YU TRA Union Sec-Gen.== What the TRA authority is asking for now is that there may not be a staff member on the platform, so the train driver has to look for the signals himself to leave the station. As there may be some blind spots, or because there may be a lot of passengers and the platforms will be crowded, the driver may not be able to see clearly, that's a really dangerous situation. The internal document sent by the TRA says that if those on continuous shift don't come in as scheduled, their line manager must approve holiday seven days in advance and find substitute staff, otherwise they will be treated as being absent without leave. Industrial unions excoriated this as exerting threatening pressure on staff. Currently, over 1,000 union members will take the holiday they are entitled to under law. The TRA was low-key in its response as to how this action by the transport union would affect transport during the Lunar New Year holiday. ==HUANG JUNG-HUA Dir., TRA Taipei Main Station== Although some staff have opinions which they want to express, as managers we will use the most sincere and most open-minded attitude to continue to discuss the issues with them. The TRA says that the New Year holiday is the biggest transportation challenge in their calendar and they hope they can meet it successfully. As to tickets for that period for east coast express lines being sold out in seconds on Jan. 5, and those for seats on long distance express west coastlines being sold out the next day, TRA said that due to demand on the east coast line, on Jan 21, tickets would go on sale for eight extra services for Hualien and Taitung residents. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 為了抗議人力不足與休時不夠，台鐵產業工會發起，從除夕到初三依法休假，產業工會拿出公文指控台鐵為了因應人力問題，居然行文各站是否有人自願"連班"，恐怕將造成超時工作，而因應車站工作人員可能不足，台鐵也在公文指出，可視情況看號誌發車，產業工會痛批這根本罔顧安全 ==台鐵產業工會秘書 蕭農瑀== 現在鐵路局的要求就是說 即使沒有月台這個行車人員 車長自己看號誌自己就可以出發 可能會因為一些角度的關係 或者因為旅客很多 人潮洶湧 車長其實會看不到或是看不清楚 如果他又急著發車 又看不清楚的話 那其實是非常危險的 而根據台鐵日前發出的內部公文，輪班人員如果沒有依照班表出勤，必須七日前由主管准假並且有職務代理人，否則就以"曠職"論處。產業工會批評這是威脅打壓，目前一千多名會員還是會依法休假，對於春節輸運遇上產業工會行動，台鐵低調回應還在溝通。 ==台鐵台北站長 黃榮華== 雖然有一些員工 有一些意見表達 我們主管一定會用 最坦承 最開放的心 來繼續跟他們做溝通 台鐵喊話春節是全年最大輸運考驗，希望能順利完成。而春節期間的車票，東部幹線在一月五日開賣就被秒殺，隔天西部幹線開賣，長程座位也很快售完，台鐵表示因應花東輸運需求，21號週六上午六點，還會開放八班實名制返鄉專車訂票，花東民眾還有搶票機會。 記者 綜合報導