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ITRI slammed for
course on avoiding labor law
CAUGHT IN THE ACT: ITRI’s president made a
public apology over the course, and ITRI College chief executive Wang Feng-kuei
was dismissed for his role in the affair
By Mo Yan-chih / Staff reporter, with CNA
Industrial Technology Research
Institute president Shyu Jyuo-min, second right, executive vice president Chu
Hsin-sen, second left, Industrial Technology Research Institute College chief
executive Wang Feng-kuei, first left, and assistant vice president Yu
Hsiang-sheng, far right, bow and apologize to the public yesterday in Hsinchu
County after some officials at the institute organized a course for employers
that offered tips on how to circumvent labor laws.
Photo: Liao Hsueh-ju, Taipei Times
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday
told the Ministry of Economic Affairs to determine which officials at the
state-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) were responsible
for organizing a course for employers that offered tips on how to circumvent
labor laws.
The content of the six-hour course, which was offered by ITRI College — the
institute’s education and training service and was scheduled to start on May 17
— included an introduction to the best ways to circumvent the Labor Standards
Act (勞動基準法) such as how to handle the deaths of employees from suspected
overwork.
The course went unnoticed until Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Liu
Chien-kuo (劉建國) questioned the propriety of such training courses at a meeting
of the legislature’s Economic Committee on Thursday.
In addition to offering a written apology over the incident that same day, ITRI
also canceled the program.
Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said Ma attached great
importance to the rights of workers and had spared no effort in seeking to
strengthen those rights since taking office three years ago. He was therefore
understandable angry at a course that sought to undermine labor rights.
“President Ma demanded an immediate apology from ITRI officials, and the
institute will be expected to take full responsibility ... If personnel or
course instructor are found to have engaged in illegal acts, punishment must
also be meted out,” Lo said.
The Labor Union Act (工會法), Collective Agreement Act (團體協約法) and Settlement of
Labor Disputes Act (勞資爭議處理法), will take effect tomorrow (Workers’ Day) and the
course offered by the institute undermined the government’s efforts in pushing
for labor rights, he said.
ITRI president Shyu Jyuo-min (徐爵民) apologized to the public over the course
yesterday. ITRI College chief executive Wang Feng-kuei (王鳳奎), was dismissed to
take responsibility for the incident.
Shyu said the course was planned on the basis of recommendations made by
businesses, but admitted that ITRI College had been at fault for not screening
the content properly.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-hsiang (施顏祥) said ITRI has been asked to
present a report to the ministry within a week.
Meanwhile, Council of Labor Affairs Deputy Minister Pan Shih-wei (潘世偉) said any
lecturers or lawyers caught offering similar courses in the future would be put
on a blacklist and banned from participating in council-sponsored training
programs.
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