PFP Legislator Lin Hui-kuan (
TSU legislators attacked Lin this week for keeping his position at the state-run Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) while serving as a legislator, apparently contravening the Civil Servant Services Law that prohibits lawmakers from being civil servants.
Lin kept the position at the TRA to remain eligible to run for the presidency of the Chinese Federation of Labor (CFL), a position to which he was re-elected last Thursday with 100 percent of the vote.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
Lin has won a great deal of support from labor activists over the past two years, largely thanks to his legislative post.
"We need labor representatives to voice our demands in the Legislative Yuan. It would be not fair to labor if we forbid labor representatives to concurrently hold political positions," said Chuang Miao-tze (
Lin became president of the CFL in 2001, outmaneuvering the KMT, which had previously held such sway over the organization that its leadership was usually given away as a political reward to friends of the party.
Lin joined the PFP in 2001 after becoming disenchanted with the KMT, which nominated him as a legislator-at-large, but so far down the list that it was unlikely that he would be elected.
With the PFP's support, Lin became the first CFL president to take its members to the streets to demonstrate.
"He had no choice but to do so, especially under the political structure" where the DPP is in government, said Ku Yu-Ling (顧玉玲), secretary-general of the Taiwan Association for Victims of Occupational Injuries.
Ku said that Lin has listened to independent labor activists more than any president before him.
"But still, he needs to fulfill his obligation as a PFP legislator," Ku said.
During the march in August last year, Lin joined about 20,000 workers to march through Taipei to the Executive Yuan and DPP headquarters to protest the Cabinet's decision to raise national health insurance premiums.
Lin has also urged the Council of Labor Affairs to increase the amount budgeted for cheap government loans provided to the some 2.48 million workers who have been covered by the labor insurance scheme for at least 15 years. The CLA, however, has rejected the demand to increase the loans budget from NT$10 billion to NT$15.3 billion.
"Lin probably never thought he would be a legislator before he was actually elected," said Kuo Kuo-wen (
The mass layoff protection law (
However, no sooner had Lin secured another term as CFL president than his position at the TRA came under threat, after the TRA asked him to decide between his positions at the state-run company and in the legislature.
The move comes after TSU legislators raised the issue in the Legislative Yuan, citing Article 75 of the Constitution, which reads, "No member of the Legislative Yuan shall concurrently hold a government post."
The Civil Servant Services Act also says that no civil servant should concurrently hold other government positions.
In response, Lin said that he would not make the choice, since the TRA had allowed him to keep his position two years ago. He said he would sue the TRA if he had to.
Lin had never fought for labor rights in the past, according to Ku Yu-ling.
"The 2004 presidential election will be a chance for us to see whether Lin is a labor representative or a politician. We'll see if he just wants to solicit labor votes for the pan-blue camp," Ku Yu-ling said.
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