Labor rights groups yesterday protested in front of the Judicial Yuan against “unfair justice,” saying that judges would often side with big money rather than labor organizations in lawsuits.
Protesters and police got into a shoving match as the activists tried to hang a “Corruption Yuan” sign in front of the building to draw attention to recent corruption scandals involving Taiwan High Court judges.
Yuan Kong-chi (袁孔琪), secretary of the Confederation of Taiwan Trade Unions, said labor groups felt that judges did not know how to balance capital-labor relations, adding that they usually sided with companies in lawsuits. Statistics showed that the side representing labor lost most cases in lawsuits against companies, he said.
PHOTO: CNA
“The nation’s judges have distanced themselves from the labor sector,” Yuan said.
For example, Yuan said, when Typhoon Morakot hit southern parts of the country in August last year, two ERA News employees alleged on the Internet that their company had dragged its feet in notifying disaster-relief authorities of people’s appeals for help in call-ins to the company. They were fired in response.
Although the National Communications Commission determined that the allegations were based on fact, the pair lost a civil lawsuit against their employer after a court ruled that the company had a right to fire employees who had broken the trust relationship with their employer, he said.
Yuan said an employee of Shinhai Gas Company surnamed Lin was fired for revealing that the company was overcharging its customers after a court ruled that Lin had been disloyal to the company.
Facing such a handicap, labor groups must spend enormous amounts of time and money to file suits against the corporate sector, with little chance of winning, Yuan said.
Labor groups are calling on judges to rectify the situation, he said.
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