Taiwan Railway Union Calls Off Holiday Strike 台鐵企工:端午正常出勤 交長:家和萬事興

Progress was made in negotiations between the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and Taiwan Railway Union, resulting in the union calling off a strike scheduled for the Dragon Boat Festival.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has been actively engaging the Taiwan Railway Union in talks, hoping to prevent a repeat of the strike that took place over the Labor Day long weekend. Progress has finally been made, and the union agreed to call off the strike scheduled for the Dragon Boat Festival. Minister Wang Kwo-tsai described it as "if the family lives in harmony, all affairs will prosper" and said he will continue closely communicating with the union about the 16 sub-laws under the regulations on the corporatization of Taiwan Railways Administration. However, legislators say corporatization doesn't guarantee safety and said the ministry needs to urge Taiwan Railways to enact reforms.

Lee Kun-tse, Legislator (DPP): “The Transportation Safety Board gives you annual evaluation reports with suggestions on how to improve. However, you only made 12 percent of them. With regards to this, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and Taiwan Railways Administration both need to conduct a deep self-examination. ”
Wang Kwo-tsai, MOTC Minister: “We will watch the TRA like a hawk. Corporatization can't solve all problems.”

When asked about what the ministry is doing to help boost tourism in the post-pandemic period, Wang said borders likely will not open soon so he asked the Executive Yuan for NT$6 billion for "stimulus" purposes. Of that amount, NT$500 million will be allocated to passenger transportation. The rest will be spent on hotels, sightseeing, and amusement parks, though it will not take the form of "relief" like in the past. There would only be subsidies based on tour groups.

Wang Kwo-tsai, Transportation and Communications Minister: “You have to succeed in forming a tour group with a certain number of people, where there are people staying at your homestay or people going to your amusement park or people taking your intercity bus. We will only offer subsidies for that. It won't be like before when we offered relief. Before, we gave subsidies depending on the number of people no matter whether you were doing anything or not.”

The MOTC acknowledged discussions with the travel industry are still needed to hear and exchange opinions. It hopes to simultaneously address disease prevention and livelihoods, and actual measures will be announced at a later date.

為了不讓台鐵五一停駛噩夢重演，交通部連日積極與台鐵企業工會溝通，終於讓工會點頭同意端午連續假期不會集體請假，正常出班，對此交通部長王國材表示，這是「家和萬事興」，接下來也會密切與工會討論，台鐵公司化條例下的16個子法，不過立委質疑，公司化不保證就安全，要求交通部敦促台鐵，積極改革。

民進黨立委李昆澤表示：「運安會每年給你們改善建議的評估報告只改善了12%，這個交通部跟台鐵局都必須要深切檢討，不是公司化能解決所有的問題。」 交通部長王國材回應：「這個我們會來盯台鐵。」

另外，對於疫後觀光如何復甦，王國材透露，因國門可能沒那麼快開，因此向行政院爭取60億預算，用在振興，其中5億元預計撥給客運，其他用在旅宿觀光以及遊樂園等，但都不是像過去的紓困性質，要成團才有補助。

交通部長王國材指出：「就是你要組到一定的團，有人去住你的旅宿，有人到你的遊樂園，或有人搭你的公路客運，我們才會用這樣來做一個補助，跟以前紓困不一樣，以前紓困是你有沒有做任何事情，都就是人頭的一個補助。」

但國內疫情嚴峻，振興方案是否能夠成功吸引人潮，交通部坦言，近期還要再跟業者座談，聽取意見，希望兼顧防疫與生活，再將振興方案公佈實施。