Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday approved the resignation of Su Yin-kuei (蘇盈貴), head of Taipei City’s Department of Labor Affairs, who resigned over a union election.
Su tendered his resignation last week, and Hau’s approval has raised concerns he may reshuffle his administration ahead of the Taipei mayoral election in December.
Su, a former independent legislator, accepted Hau’s invitation to serve as the department head in 2005. He threatened to quit last year after he challenged the election of the Confederation of Taiwan Trade Unions leader and annulled the election result in April.
The union later filed a petition with the Council of Labor Affairs, and in August the council decided that the election was valid. Su said that the person who supervised the election had been fired by the city government long before and the election result was invalid. He said he would resign if the council continued to recognize the election result.
The council finalized its decision last month and announced that the election result would stand. Su offered his resignation shortly thereafter.
Hau yesterday expressed regret over Su’s decision and lauded him for his contributions to defending labor rights.
“Su has done a great job, but he insisted that he should fulfill his promise and resign. I respect his decision,” Hau said.
Hau denied that mayoral election considerations were behind his decision to approve Su’s resignation. He said he had talked to Su twice hoping to dissuade him from leaving the position.
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