More than 300 former freeway toll collectors yesterday took to the streets of Taipei to protest what they said were the Executive Yuan’s unfair accusations toward them and to demand better treatment for short-term government contractors.
The laid-off toll collectors have been engaged in a prolonged campaign since January last year, when the nation implemented a new electronic toll collection system and tore down all tollbooths, rendering them jobless.
In a gesture to express their anguish and despair, the protesters knelt down on the ground after every six steps they took, acting in unison to the beat of a drum for more than an hour throughout the course of the march.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The solemn procession started at the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei and ended in front of the Executive Yuan, a distance of about 1.5km.
Wearing kneepads and their signature orange T-shirts, the protesters each carried an egg to symbolize the fragile nature of the security offered by government contract jobs.
They accused the ministry of having employed them as short-term contractors every year, despite many of the toll collectors having worked for nearly two decades.
The former toll collectors demanded that the government provide them with severance packages in accordance with their years of service, instead of a fixed seven-month stipend.
Labor activist Kuo Kuan-chun (郭冠均) said the government did little to protect the rights of 70,000 to 80,000 contractors, as contractors often lack job security and severance packages as stipulated by the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
He accused the government of employing short-term contractors to cut down on expenses and to evade its responsibility of protecting labor rights, adding that comprehensive reforms must be enacted to cut down on the number of contractors.
Taiwan International Workers’ Association member Betty Chen (陳容柔) rejected comments made last week by Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國), who said that the government “could not give any more” and that the protesters’ demands would infringe upon the interests of the majority of taxpayers.
“What exactly did you give the workers when you established the regulations on government contractors?” Chen asked, accusing Mao of fostering antagonism between the former toll collectors and the general public.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
RSS