Members of the National Alliance for Workers of Closed Factories (全國關廠工人連線) yesterday accused President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration of cracking down on its leaders for organizing a protest in 2013 at Taipei Railway Station, with 10 of them last month receiving fines from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications for occupying the railway tracks and disrupting the railway system.
The protest, in which workers were lying on the tracks of the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) system, was held on Feb. 5, 2013, to urge the government to drop lawsuits that would ask the workers to pay back retirement funds and severance pay that the Ministry of Labor had loaned to them 15 years earlier when companies that they worked for went bankrupt.
Although no criminal charges were pressed against the protestors, the transportation ministry handed down fines to 10 of the alliance members for contravening the Railway Act (鐵路法).
Photo: CNA
The protesters first held a news conference on Platform 3 at Taipei Railway Station yesterday morning, accusing the Tsai administration and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of pretending to care about the workers before the presidential election last year and then ignoring them once in power.
They later marched to the ministry to protest against what they perceived as a move to crackdown on union members.
Alliance member Chen Hsiu-lien (陳秀蓮) said all 10 members received a ticket last month, saying that they were each fined NT$6,000 for occupying the railway tracks and blocking trains from entering and exiting the stations, as well as compromising order and safety in the public transport system.
The ticket was issued by Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) for something they did four years ago, which showed that the ministry is more despicable than the Ministry of Labor, Chen said.
The DPP administration clearly intended to use the fine to send a strong signal to the unions after their relentless protests that more fines would come their way if they continue to disobey and challenge the law, she said.
“Prior to the election last year, Tsai sided with the workers and criticized the then-ruling Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] government for its handling of the protest. Once in office, she appears to have changed her mind. The DPP, on the other hand, wanted to score points for something that happened when the KMT was in power,” Chen said.
The government would not get a single dime from them, Chen added.
Most of the workers in the alliance are now 65-years-old or more and could not participate in yesterday’s protest for various reasons, said Chien Yu-e (簡玉娥), another alliance member.
Tsai had promised to solve problems involving the workers of closed factories before she was elected as president, but now her government is oppressing them, she said.
She asked if Tsai had intended to manipulate the workers.
In response, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said that the ministry had not targeted the workers, adding that the fines were issued because their behavior had affected railway safety and the public interest.
“The Criminal Act and the Railway Act are completely different laws. Even though the prosecutors decided not to press criminal charges against the workers in the protest, the ministry must still issue fines based on the Railway Act. Otherwise, it would not be fair to those who have already paid their fines for infringing the act,” Wang said.
The Railway Police Bureau has handled 176 cases related to breaking the Railway Act since the amendment of the act took effect on June 18, 2014, Wang said, adding that the ministry has collected NT$2.79 million in fines from 65 cases.
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