BUS COMPANIES CUT SERVICES UNDER NEW LABOR LAW |面臨勞動新制 客運公車8月將"合法減班"

Starting next month, workers will be required by law to take at least one day off for every six consecutive days worked. The new regulation is expected to impact the inter-city and intra-city bus companies, since they may need to reduce bus frequencies if they're understaffed. Bus companies called a meeting and announced that they will start cutting bus services on August 1st. Intercity bus companies may not be able to increase services on public holidays, either. Intercity and city bus operators across Taiwan met on the last working day of July to discuss measures in response to the new labor regulation. Starting next Monday, workers will not be allowed to work 7 consecutive days in a week. Bus operators will be faced with a shortage of drivers and have to reduce bus frequency. ==LI PO-WEN, National Joint Association of Buses== Intercity buses will not cut services on weekends because weekends are peak days. On the contrary, city buses may reduce bus frequencies on weekends. Bus operators say the industry needs to hire an additional 1,500 to 1,700 drivers to bridge the gap in staffing, but they are unable to find people. This means that services will have to cut. For instance, right now in downtown areas, there's a bus every 5 to 10 minutes. On average, people just need to wait 5 minutes to get on the bus. After bus frequency is cut, the waiting time may increase to 10 minutes. Also the MOTC requests bus operators to increase services on public holidays, but the new regulation will allow for less flexibility in arranging days off. The bus industry hopes the new labor regulation can be postponed. ==FANG, SEN-TE, Secretary-General, National Joint Bus Association== Services are holidays have to be increased by 20%. Now that the new regulation does not allow for the flexible arrangement of days off, we may not be able to increase services on holidays. ==HUANG WEI-CHEN, Deputy, Labor Standards Dept., Ministry of Labor== The new regulation does not for the flexibility of adjusting days off because we hope labor standards can be normalized. We do not plan to postpone the new regulation, but we will do our best to help the bus industry with recruitment. The MOTC stressed that bus operators cannot cut services without approval. They have to first conduct reviews on their services, improve the efficiency of low-frequency routes, and recruit more staff. The MOTC also promised to assist bus operators in communicating with the Ministry of Labor. TRANSLATED BY：CHRISTINA LIU 8月起，勞工每上班6天 就要休假1天，衝擊客運和 公車業者，使他們面臨 人力不足 無法正常發車的問題，業者昨天召開 因應 會議，宣布下週一 8月1號開始 將合法減班，連假期間, 國道客運 也難以提供加班車。 全台客運、公車業者代表排排坐，選在7月的最後一個上班日召開例假日不可挪移閉門會議，因為從下週一開始，勞工上6天班就得休1天，導致業者面臨排不出人力的困境，減班難以避免。 ==公車客運商業公會全聯會理事長 李博文== 國道(客運)禮拜六 禮拜天 它是載客最多的 它不會在那時候減班 但是一般的市區(公車) 也許會在禮拜六 禮拜天 離峰無效的班次 我們來做減班 業者表示，目前客運業缺員高達1500人到1700人，想徵人也徵不到人，只能朝合法減班方向走，以市區公車5到10分鐘一班來說，民眾現在大約5分鐘就能搭到車，但減班後就改為10分鐘1班，盡量將衝擊降到最低，另外，交通部在連假期間都要求業者加班因應，但勞動部卻又不願讓業者彈性休假，如此一來勢必影響中秋、國慶等連續假期的加班車，因此希望勞動部能夠暫緩新制上路。 ==公車客運公會全聯會秘書長 方森德== 跟平常的班次 比較的結果 是要增加20％的班次量 七休一彈性挪移 被取消以後 我們這個20％的增加量 大概就是沒有辦法去執行了 ==勞動部勞動條件司副司長 黃維琛== 6月29號已經把相關 75年(7天可挪移)的解釋廢止了 我們希望說能夠逐步 回歸到一般正常的情況來處理 （新制暫緩）目前沒這樣的計畫 未來它(客運)人力不足的部份 有關訓練 幫他們媒合 會來再做努力 交通部則是強調，業者不能不經過允許就直接減班，必須先檢討班次，改善使用率較低路線，並增加人力，也會協助業者跟勞動部溝通。 記者 綜合報導