Despite written in black and white in a publication, the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) denied that it promised a group of laid-off workers 16 years ago that it would ask their runaway employers to repay a loan given to the workers as retirement payouts, triggering criticism from the public.
In 1997, when several companies — including Lien-fu Textile Co (聯福紡織), Dong-ling Electronics Co (東菱電子) and Fu-chang Electronics Co (福昌電子) — closed their doors without prior notice and their bosses declared bankruptcy, the council assisted the newly jobless workers by giving them retirement payouts using government funds, and promised that it would ask their employers, not the workers themselves, to repay the debt.
However, in recent years, many of these workers have received requests from the CLA asking them to repay their loans, and those who were unable to pay have been sued by the council.
The workers, as well as labor rights groups, have petitioned and staged numerous protests, including paralyzing the rail service at Taipei Railway Station on Tuesday.
On Thursday, some Internet users found a book on the history of the labor movement published by the CLA in 2011, in which Hsu Chieh-kui (許介圭), who served as the head of the council in 1997, was quoted as saying that the council did not intend to ask the workers to repay their loans, but would ask their employers to pay back the full amount.
However, the council yesterday denied that the official publication represents the council’s official view.
“The writing of the book was commissioned to a group of researchers. What it represents are the views of the researchers, as well as reports by media outlets at the time,” a council statement said. “The content of the book represents neither the official view nor the basis on which the government handles the issue.”
The CLA’s response triggered criticism from Internet users.
“If an official publication does not represent the official view, then what is it good for?” a Facebook user called Tsung-ying (蹤影) said.
“Bu it’s written in black on white!” said another Facebook user, Nicole Lin (林凱雯).
In addition to the book, CLA officials were at the time quoted by several newspapers, including the Chinese-language United Evening News and Economic Daily News, as saying that the money given to the workers was to be repaid by their employers, not the workers themselves.
CLA Minister Pan Shih-wei (潘世偉) did not respond to the Taipei Times’ request for comment.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS