In a bid to minimize the impact of today's planned mass rally organized by Chunghwa Telecom's (
"Since the union has obtained permission to hold the mass assembly, we called on Chunghwa Telecom to grant all employees interested in participating in tomorrow's event a leave of absence," Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Tuoh (
Wang held a closed-door caucus meeting to discuss the issue with Premier Yu Shyi-kun, who is scheduled to deliver a policy report at the legislature today. The union plans to petition Yu before his address to halt government plans to privatize state-run Chunghwa Telecom.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Chunghwa Telecom chairman Hochen Tan (
"I've authorized division chiefs to handle the matter in accordance with the company's regulations. The bottom line is that the service the company provides cannot be disrupted and the demands of the customers have to be met," Hochen said.
Since the purpose of the mass assembly is to petition Yu to address their grievances over the privatization plan, Wang said that the union should have taken the case to the Executive Yuan rather than to the Legislative Yuan.
"We're more than willing to arrange for them to meet with the premier, but unfortunately they refused our offer," Wang said. "Under such circumstances, we proposed to the premier that he accept their petition tomorrow."
The caucus will also respect the union's inviting people concerned to deliver speeches outside the legislature today.
"We also welcome them to petition the caucus. We'll arrange representatives to accept their petition if Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Chanting "oppose privatization," "fully support the labor union of Chunghwa Telecom" and "labor workers, unify," the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (全國產業總工會) and three other labor unions yesterday held a press conference at the legislature to show their support for the Chunghwa Telecom labor union's plan.
Lu Tien-lin (
"We don't rule out the possibility of surrounding the Executive Yuan at an appropriate time if the government and the legislature don't respond positively to our requests," Lu said.
Lu added that the recent string of strikes initiated by state-run enterprises highlighted that the government's plan for privatization is questionable.
"Labor workers are choosing to challenge the government because we don't want to be fooled by the government and the legislature," Lu said.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Deputy Secretary-General Huang Chung-yung (黃宗源) said that the government should consider cutting the salaries of Chunghwa Telecom employees by 35 percent in a bid to boost the company's efficiency.
"The nation's 110,000 employees of state-run companies are comparatively better off than their counterparts employed in private companies, as they're entitled to handsome retirement pensions and civil servant benefits," Huang said.
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