The Chunghwa Telecom Workers' Union (CTWU) staged a six-hour, 7,000-strong protest in Taipei yesterday to demand Premier Tang Fei (
Violence broke out as the crowd attempted to storm the Executive Yuan -- despite efforts by police to form human barriers and barricade the building with buses -- until Wea Chi-lin (
Wea promised on behalf of the Executive Yuan to establish a task force that would include Chunghwa Telecom chairman and CTWU representatives to settle the dispute.
Wea also promised that the Executive Yuan would provide other administrative resources if necessary.
Many non-Chunghwa protesters at the demonstration -- such as Taiwan Motor Transport Corp and Taiwan Rapid Transit Corp employees -- echoed requests made by the CTWU.
The state-run company workers also fear losing their privileges as the trend of privatization continues.
Protesters primarily called for their privileges as employees of the state-owned company to be retained after the company is privatized. They insisted that their salary levels should be maintained afterward and they should not be forced to retire before the age of 65 as civil servants.
Both the Executive Yuan and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications suggested that the CTWU settle the dispute as an internal affair of the company.
The government bodies are worried that, by legislating to solve the Chunghwa dispute, a precedent would be set that would force authorities to bow to similar demands when other less-profitable state-run companies are privatized.
Such companies would also be forced to shoulder the burden of high administrative costs, and therefore become even more unprofitable, they said.
The union emphasized that the demonstration was not related to claims for additional and exclusive advantages for employees to purchase Chunghwa shares in the company's initial public offering (IPO), although some union members were distributing leaflets concerning that subject.
Mao Chi-kuo (
Protesters tried to snatch his microphone, as some saw him as part of the problem rather than a solution.
Protesters were also irritated by the fact that only the secretary-general to the Executive Yuan showed up instead of Tang, but eventually accepted the fact that Wei was personally asked by Tang to represent him at the protest.
Although the CTWU promised to rearrange shifts for demonstrators in order to maintain the company's service to the public, some of Chunghwa's clients in Taichung complained about inefficient service as a direct result of the protest.
Bystanders at the demonstration remained unconvinced as to whether the union's requests are justifiable.
"Civil servants only care about their privileges and not the service they give us. Despite their claim that they must pass tough national exams to be employed by the company, the public still doesn't get the service it expects," onlooker Wang Tzu-chin (王自秦) said.
He also said that the newly privatized company would be just as inefficient as it is now, if as an employer, it is incapable of "trimming the fat."
"These people are used to the `job-for-life' mentality. They should change the way they think," said Su Wen-fu (蘇萬福), a Taipei resident.
"They've got too much already," added Chu Ju-tiao (朱儒調), a cab driver.
No arrests were made during the march, even though it continued past the 1pm deadline police had issued its organizers.
The demonstration followed a breakdown in negotiations between union leaders and Mao and Hochen Tan (賀陳旦), executive vice minister for Transportation and Communications, on Monday.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2