Minority groups remind new government to keep its campaign promises

As Taiwan celebrated Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) inauguration ceremony at the Presidential Office yesterday, several groups, re-presenting special interests such as labor and the environment, converged near the site to "remind" the new president to "cash the political checks" he issued during his campaign.

"We're not here to stage a protest, but to offer our blessing to the new president and to remind him to make good on promises he has made to us," said Lee Ching-sheng (李慶昇), director of the board at the Confederation of Taipei Trade Unions (台北市產業總工會).

Such "promises" referred to opposing the continuing construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, preserving the Chienkuo beer factory, reducing weekly working hours, and allowing those without the possession of real estate to use house rental fees to file for a tax deduction.

Susan Chen (陳素香), secretary general of the Solidarity Front of Women Workers (女工團結生產線), expressed worries about delays in government plans to reduce weekly working hours.

"The legislature has decided to postpone [the bill] for another two years, but policy decisions should not be made at the expense of the interests of minority groups," she said.

On March 11, Chen promised the labor community that he would implement labor changes by 2002, reducing working hours from 48 hours per week to 44 hours by this year, followed by a further reduction to 40 hours with a five-day workweek by 2002.

In late April, DPP legislators initiated a bill promising to do just that, and won the endorsement of legislators from other political parties.

But when the bill was submitted for a vote on May 1, the KMT, New Party and People First Party caucuses dropped their support for the bill in a sudden reversal that critics said was due to opposition from major conglomerates.

Lai Wei-chieh (賴偉傑), head of the Green Citizens Action Alliance (綠色公民行動聯盟), said Chen's support of a re-evaluation of the viability of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is an obvious violation of both his original pledge and the DPP's own platform. The re-evaluation is expected to take at least three months' time to complete.

Huang Ta-tsung (黃大宗) of the Taiwan Tobacco & Wine Monopoly Bureau Industry Union (台灣煙酒工賣局產業工會) said he would like to see Taipei's Chienkuo beer factory -- run under the Wine and Tobacco Monopoly -- to continue operations instead of being shut down to become a historic site.

The abolition of the monopoly system and the shutdown of the factory were part of preparations for Taiwan's expected entry into the WTO.

Lu Ping-yi (呂秉怡), secretary general of the so-called "Snails Without Shells Action Coalition" (無殼蝸牛行動聯盟) -- a group lobbying for affordable housing -- said he wanted the new government to boost tax deductions for rental tenants, and set up a NT$150 billion house rental subsidy fund to the low-income, disabled, senior citizens and single parents.