Four security guards carrying signs and shouting "give back my right to work," protested outside the Council of Labor Affairs yesterday, alleging unreasonable dismissal by their former employer .
The four claim that Suao Cement Plant, part of Taiwan Cement Corp, violated the Labor Standards Law (
Article 11, chapter 2 of the law states that an employer can terminate a contract if the nature of its business changes such that an employee cannot be reassigned to another position.
The four men said they were originally reassigned to other positions in the Suao plant, but the corporation later backtracked on the arrangement and terminated them last month.
They discovered that the plant had decided to employ another security company to replace them.
"We have worked hard for the company all these years. It was totally unreasonable," said Ng Ming-che (
He suspects the company terminated their contracts to cut costs.
Another terminated employee, Ko Shun-jin (
"It is very difficult to find a new job, especially at my age," he said. "This makes my burden heavier."
Ko is 48 years old and has two children. He now works part-time at a job that only pays a few hundred dollars a day.
The four men said they had taken part in negotiations with the company through the Ilan County Government last Thursday but that the talks had failed.
They said they were dissatisfied with the company's attitude, which they described as rude.
The company denied being disrespectful during the negotiations. It also denied that it had terminated the four security guards without reasonable grounds.
A manager at the plant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that it had been the company's decision to employ a new security firm.
The plant had tried to arrange for the four men to work for the new company before terminating them, but they had been unwilling to accept the offer, the manager said. The offer would have meant that the four were no long employees of Taiwan Cement Corp and they would have received a lower salary, the manager said.
The two sides will participate in another round of negotiations hosted by the county government on Friday.
A council official said the council must first determine whether there had been a need for the company to terminate the four before starting any negotiation.
The workers said they would solve the problem through legal means if negotiations failed.
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