Chunghwa workers protest

The Chunghwa Telecom Workers' Union (CTWU) staged a six-hour, 7,000-strong protest in Taipei yesterday to demand Premier Tang Fei (唐飛) guarantee their rights as civil servants prior to the state-owned company's privatization.

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 Wei Chi-lin (魏啟林), secretary-general to the Executive Yuan, showed up.

Wei promised on behalf of the Executive Yuan to establish a task force that would include the Chunghwa Telecom chairman and CTWU representatives to settle the dispute.

Wei 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 (毛治國), vice minister of Transportation and Communications and newly appointed chairman of the company, showed up to calm the masses in front of the Executive Yuan, but his promise to attend to the requests of the employees as an internal issue of the company was quickly rejected.

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," said onlooker Wang Tzu-chin (王自秦).