Labor unions yesterday protested in front of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF,
The firm, Continental Carbon Company, is based in Houston, Texas, and is part of Koo's global business network, which includes telecommunications, hotels, biotechnology, chemicals, insurance, and banking.
Yesterday's event was staged to coincide with the first anniversary of what the US employees involved have termed a "lockout" of workers by Continental Carbon at one of its plants in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
The company allegedly dismissed more than 80 workers a year ago and breached an agreement with the employees' union to continue to provide health insurance for former employees for 18 months after they leave the company.
It did so, the US employees say, because they refused to accept cuts in wages and benefits of between US$10,000 and US$15,000 per year when renewing their contracts last year.
According to a report by the US-based Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical, and Energy Workers International Union (PACE), after the lockout, the 86 workers and their families were thrown into financial hardship and denied health insurance.
Organized by the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCTU,
Representatives of the workers and leaders of PACE came to Taiwan in March for a joint demonstration in front of the Taiwan Cement building. Taiwan Cement and Taiwan Synthetic Rubber Corporation are Koo's Group-owned companies that bought Continental Carbon in 1995.
"We had protests in Taiwan involving US union leaders in March," said Robert Kuo (
"Unfortunately, no one from the Koo family has ever responded. That is why we chose to approach the head of the Koo's Group and president of the SEF, in the hopes of getting some positive feedback from the group."
The protesters planned yesterday to present Koo with a letter detailing alleged malpractice on the part of the management of Continental Carbon and a giant styrofoam key with the words "anti-lockout" on the front.
In fact, Koo was out of the country and an SEF department head, Lin Jau-tsan (
He refused, however, to accept the letter or the key from the protesters, saying, "We [the foundation] are unfamiliar with the background of the dispute and have no authority over the matter," he said.
"The foundation really has nothing to do with it. They are ringing the wrong bell," Lin told the Taipei Times.
Yesterday's protest was also attended by environmental activists, who protested about Continental Carbon's alleged illegal discharge of waste-water in the local Ponca City community and the failure to take appropriate measures to protect workers from potentially carcinogenic carbon black oil.
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is to tighten rules for candidates running for public office, requiring them to declare that they do not hold a Chinese household registration or passport, and that they possess no other foreign citizenship. The requirement was set out in a draft amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法 ) released by the ministry on Thursday. Under the proposal, candidates would need to make the declaration when submitting their registration forms, which would be published in the official election bulletin. The move follows the removal of several elected officials who were
FOUR DESIGNATED AREAS: Notices were issued for live-fire exercises in waters south and northwest of Penghu, northeast of Keelung and west of Kaohsiung, they said The military is planning three major annual exercises across the army, navy and air force this month, with the navy’s “Hai Chiang” (海強, “Sea Strong”) drills running from today through Friday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Hai Chiang exercise, which is to take place in waters surrounding Taiwan, would feature P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and S-70C anti-submarine helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the drills aim to bolster the nation’s offshore defensive capabilities. China has intensified military and psychological pressure against Taiwan, repeatedly sending warplanes and vessels into areas near the nation’s air defense identification zone and across
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
RSS