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Labor groups march
for workers’ rights
TAIWAN TOMATINA: The demonstrators said that
Ma’s policies benefit corporations at the expense of workers, such as already
insufficient pensions facing further cuts
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
Members of labor unions and other
labor organizations hold signs with anti-government slogans during an
anti-government protest in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Police remove barricades after a
labor demonstration in front of the Presidential Office yesterday in protest
over the government’s delay in resolving problems with the labor pension system.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Thousands of people from workers’ unions
and labor groups took to the streets in Taipei yesterday, demanding that the
government protect workers’ rights.
Initiated by the National Federation of Independent Trade Unions (NAFITU),
workers organized by more than a dozen groups from across the country arrived at
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) at noon yesterday and headed out to the streets holding
signs bearing their demands, such as “basic guarantees,” “uncut payment” and
“against the free-trade island [policy] and worsening labor conditions.”
The NAFITU said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had spoken about the government’s
plan for leading the nation to become a “free-trade island,” increasing
collaboration between industry and schools and reforming the labor insurance
annuity scheme in his speech on New Year’s Day.
However, these policies should not be achieved by sacrificing the working
conditions in Taiwan — such as reforming labor insurance by cutting the basic
payments for retired workers, or cooperating with the business sector to turn
students into cheap labor for companies, it said, adding that the march aimed to
make it clear to the president that workers will not accept reforms that only
benefit corporations.
NAFITU president Chu Wei-li (朱維立) said the protest appealed for five demands:
not cutting the labor insurance annuity payment, basic guarantees for
retirement, government budget appropriation to supplement the Labor Insurance
Fund if it fails to provide basic guaranteed payments, not loosening labor
regulations for a free economic demonstration zone and amending Article 28 of
the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
The groups said that the minimum monthly retirement payment from the labor
insurance annuity is currently only NT$5,183 after working for 15 years and
NT$8,733 after working for 30 years, and an average worker receives only about
NT$13,000 — all lower than the government’s data from last year, which showed
the average living expenses in Taiwan total about NT$18,465 a month.
They urged the government not to cut the labor insurance annuity payment, which
is already not enough to maintain average living standards, and said it should
guarantee a basic living by supplementing the payment with government funding or
from taxes imposed on employers and company owners.
Following the march, the protesters converged in front of the Presidential
Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, where the event organizers staged a skit and
delivered speeches. The demonstration ended peacefully after the protesters,
having been given two warnings by the police that they were violating the
Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), threw tomatoes and eggs toward the Presidential
Office, from which they were separated by barricades and police.
“We have not seen the government announce policies protecting workers’ rights,
nor any sincerity toward workers,” Taoyuan International Airport Services Union
standing director Yang Shao-yung (楊少庸) said, adding that despite the large
number of protesters, the government failed to even send out an official to meet
with them.
“Today we used only tomatoes to express our anger and dissatisfaction. Further
demonstrations on larger scales may be held in the future,” he said.
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