If the Executive Yuan fails to respond to the China Postal Workers’ Union request for an investigation into the lease of a storage center at Chunghwa Post Logistics Park within 15 days, the union might stage another, larger, protest or even launch a strike, it said yesterday.
More than 300 union members yesterday protested against the Executive Yuan’s decision to replace Chunghwa Post president Chen Shian-juh (陳憲著) and chairman Louis Wei (魏建宏), on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, for failing to properly oversee the procurement project.
The sackings were “a ruthless move” that greatly harmed the credibility and reputation of postal workers, the union said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“We were concerned that postal workers handling the project might be also punished after the company’s chairman and president were asked to step down,” union chairman Wu Wen-feng (吳文豐) said.
The government spent NT$28 billion (US$898.44 million at the current exchange rate) building the logistics park, and the storage center is only one of the five large buildings planned for the property to have been built, Wu said.
How can the company continue overseeing the project in the wake of the controversy, he asked.
The logistics park is not the first case of political intervention in public procurement projects, be they employees’ physical examinations to the purchase of raincoats and electric motorcycles, he said.
The Executive Yuan had accused Chen of benefiting a specific business operator, only to announce on Wednesday that the company should sign a contract with PCHome, which was rated as the No. 1 contractor during the tendering process, Wu said.
This shows that the tendering process was legal, and the success of the contract has been key in helping the company transform its business model, he said.
“If the project fails, other interested investors might refrain from tendering for the contracts for the four other buildings in the logistics park,” he said.
“We hope that Executive Yuan can hear our voice. Besides telling PChome that it legally secured the contract, it should also assure that our rights and benefits are not affected. or else no postal worker will want to handle public procurement projects in the logistics park,” Wu said.
Union vice chairman Chan Yi-hsin (詹一新) said that the Executive Yuan has ruined Chunghwa Post’s credibility and reputation that it had painstakingly established over the decades by accepting lobbying by certain legislators, who accused the company of misusing its power for the profit of certain private individuals.
“On the surface, these legislators said that they care about the development and use of the nation’s logistics platform, but what they did is hurting its development,” Chan said.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS