By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Lawmakers yesterday accused Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co (FETC) of failing to deliver its employment referral promise to hundreds of fee collectors after the new electronic toll collection system took effect last month.
“Among the 947 toll fee collectors in the country, 313 wanted FETC to refer them to other job opportunities, but only 56 have been referred as of now,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pan Men-an (潘孟安) told a news conference.
The toll fee collectors were left without a job after the new electronic toll collection (ETC) scheme took effect on Dec. 20 last year across the nation’s freeways, where drivers would no longer be charged by the number of toll booths passed, but by the distance traveled as recorded on eTags.
According to the agreement between the National Freeway Bureau and FETC, the contractor administering the electronic toll collection system, the company was obliged to guarantee the collectors’ right to work for five years and assist them to find new jobs, Pan said.
Pan, who represented the Pingtung County, said none of the 24 toll fee collectors at the county’s Zhutian (竹田) Toll Station had so far found a new job.
Pan, along with DPP lawmakers Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津), Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲), Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) and Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉), reported that the Ministry of Transportation and Communication said FETC “obviously violated its contract with the ministry.”
Wang Chiy-yuan (汪秋圓), who previously worked at Zhutian Toll Station, and Cheng Hui-yu (程惠瑜) and Hsiao Fan-yuan (蕭芳玉), both of whom worked at Shanghua (善化) Toll Station in Greater Tainan, said FETC had pledged to complete all employment referral by the Lunar New Year holiday, but in the end only asked employees to register online and helped them deliver their resumes.