Taiwan Motor opens its doors to the private sector

Fifty-five years of operations for state-owned Taiwan Motor Transport Co came to a end yesterday amid protests that erupted into sporadic violence.

Demonstrators from Taiwan Motor's former labor union assaulted Lee Hung-sheng (李宏生), the bus company's ex-vice president.

Lee now heads Kuokuang Co (國光), the private firm that took the place of Taiwan Motor and is backed with the investment of the bus company's former employees.

Lee's remarks before the departure of Kuokuang's first bus yesterday were interrupted when a protester abruptly poured a bottle of tea onto Lee's head.

"Lee was involved in masterminding the state-owned company's closure and should have been treated like that long before yesterday," said Chang Ya-chun (張雅君), one of the protest's organizers.

Some protesters also surrounded the bus and flattened a tire in order to trap Lee. The Kuokuang chairman was also hit with a few punches despite police efforts to escort him away from the chaos.

After the conflict, Lee said he was nothing more than the head of a new company and that anti-privatization protesters shouldn't target him.

"Taiwan Motor Co has been privatized to conform with the government's policy. It's impossible to ask tax payers to pay for the company's large debt," he said.

Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), minister of transportation and communications, said the former union members should come to grips with the privatization.

Taiwan Motor's constant operating losses made privatization inevitable, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said.

At the end of last month, the company's debt stood at NT$46 billion, while its annual operating losses were roughly NT$1.7 billion.

The former union has staged a series of protests against the privatization move, but the numbers of participants in the demonstrations have fallen over time.

"We will continue with our protests by tailing the minister until our requests are properly addressed," Chang said yesterday. "We have had considerable time to kill since we are jobless. Lee should also be careful, as he is the priority target of our protests."

Chang said yesterday's protest drew some 180 people who have lost their jobs because of the move to privatize.

Of Taiwan Motor's 3,141 former employees, 1,093 invested in the new company and were guaranteed jobs at Kuokuang. In addition, the new bus line hired 334 workers who didn't invest in the new company.

Also, the ministry had helped former Taiwan Motor employees by holding job fairs.

Still, that hasn't satisfied some of the former bus workers, who had grown accustomed to the higher salaries offered by government jobs and the relatively easier working environment.

"We are qualified civil servants approved by national exams," Chang said.

"Jobs in government agencies are preferred because of the privileged salaries and labor conditions," said Chen Tsan-tun (陳燦堂), who quit leading the protests once he received a job transfer to the Taiwan Railway Administration. "But there aren't so many opportunities available in the public sector."

Because they were not able to retain their civil servant privileges, more than 100 drivers who were transferred from Taiwan Motor to Kuokuang yesterday began a strike in Keelung, sparking complaints by customers.

Lee said pay scales could be further discussed, "but profit is Kuokuang's priority because it's a private company responsible for its own financial status, while the high salaries of former Taiwan Motor employees were funded by tax payers."