Union accuses Taipei Metro of withholding paid leave for cleaners

Taipei, April 8 (CNA) A dispatched workers union has said that Taipei Metro violates procurement rules, resulting in cleaning staff receiving fewer days of paid leave than they should be legally entitled to under labor rights law.

The "Taiwan Labor Dispatch Industry Union" (台灣勞動派遣產業工會) held a press conference at the Taipei City Council on Tuesday to denounce the city-run Taipei Metro as "leave thieves."

According to the union, the public transportation provider flouts provisions in the Government Procurement Act, resulting in cleaners who have worked at the company for 10 years only receiving three days of annual paid leave.

The press conference was jointly organized by the union's adviser Cheng Chung-jui (鄭中睿), the Confederation of Taipei Trade Unions Chair Chiu Yi-kan (邱奕淦), Kuomintang (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Liu Tsai-wei (柳采葳) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Ho Meng-hua (何孟樺).

Cheng said that all of the 652 cleaners working at Taipei Metro's 117 stations were outsourced, as of September 2024.

He said Taipei Metro uses a two-year contract model with cleaning companies, and when the contract changes hands, the workers are dismissed and must be rehired by the new contractor.

As a result, workers' years of service are reset, Cheng said, and their paid leave accrual restarts each time a contract ends.

He noted that under the Labor Standards Act, an employee working at the same company for one year should receive seven days of leave, and those employed continuously for 10 years should receive 16 days.

Cheng warned that without long-term contracts, many cleaners could face the situation of having worked for a decade or more and still only receive three days off annually.

The trade union adviser also accused the corporation of suppressing cleaners' salaries by keeping them permanently at entry-level wages.

The outsourcing system means that "workers don't dare to resist to protect their rights and interests," Cheng said, calling on the company to directly employ cleaners rather than outsource the positions.

He also demanded that Taipei Metro "immediately" audit and publicly disclose the employment durations of all outsourced cleaning staff.

In response, Chen Chung-Chu (陳忠助), director of the Station Operations Division at Taipei Metro, said the cleaning contracts include leave entitlements.

However, the metro official said the company will review its contracts to check for any discrepancies or noncompliance.