Thousands of workers yesterday took to the streets in Taipei for the 12th annual Autumn March to protest against increasing unemployment, finishing their demonstration by throwing more than 70 tonnes of garbage in front of the Presidential Office.
"Garbage is dirty and useless, but the government's failure to protect workers' rights is worse than garbage," a statement by the workers said.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"To protest against the government assisting enterprises with their difficulties while unfairly ignoring workers' interests, we decided to curse the government with the dirtiest garbage," the statement added.
With Taiwan's unemployment rate at 5.2 percent, some 2,000 demonstrators, including 10 to 20 foreign workers, carried banners with the slogan "Can't afford to exist, Anti-penniless."
The march began with the lighting of firecrackers in front of the Council of the Labor Affairs (CLA) as demonstrators demanded the council's chairwoman, Chen Chu (
During the four-hour demonstration, workers said the CLA has ignored their six main complaints. Demonstrators say they can't afford to live, have children, educate their children, get old, fall ill or pay for housing because of misguided government policies.
"Chen Chu never offered any effective solutions to our problems, but only shifted responsibility to other ministries. She should step down," the press release said.
Among the thousands of demonstrators, Shih Yung-en (
"I had tried to seek help from the CLA many times. But I just gave up after they kept returning my application," Shih said.
The former construction worker said that he is worried about his children's education and hopes that he would be permitted to stop paying the health insurance fee.
As well as Shih, Yang Hsiu-hsiung (
Yang said his salary has dropped below NT$5,000 a month recently and is demanding that the CLA help workers receive the legal monthly minimum wage of NT$15,840.
Some demonstrators didn't have any specific complaint, but wanted to amplify the voice of labor.
"This is a special date for workers. We attend the event to show the strength of workers," said Lai Hsiu-hsin (
Lo Ying-yin (
Lo was able to find a job early this year.
The CLA said ahead of the event that only the vice-premier's office is entitled to react to the demonstrators' complaints as "the six main complaints relate to several ministries' business."
However the vice premier's office didn't respond to the complaints yesterday.
Two DPP legislators, Lee Ming-hsien (
Organizers dismissed the claim as ridiculous.
The Autumn March was launched by the Committee for Action for Labor Legislation (工人立法行動委員會) 12 years ago. The event is intended to remind the government of the kind of difficulties workers face every year.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard