Labor unions yesterday staged their second demonstration in as many weeks outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to protest amendments to the Labor Union Act (工會法) that were scheduled for legislative review yesterday despite lawmakers’ promises last week to hold public hearings first.
Standing behind a banner that read, “No to martial law on unions,” hundreds of angry unionists from across the country and different industries chanted slogans and sang the Workers’ Fight Song.
They were upset not only because of the proposed amendments to the law, but also because they felt legislators had tricked them.
“When we came here last Friday to protest the Cabinet’s proposed amendments to the Labor Union Act, both the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] and Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] caucuses promised they would hold public hearings to listen to what we have to say,” National Federation of Independent Trade Unions official Liu Yung (劉庸) told the demonstrators.
“Despite their promises, the legislature again scheduled a review of the amendments without having held a single public hearing,” he said.
Liu said the unions were especially upset because they had only learned about yesterday’s scheduled review from KMT Legislator Ho Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳) during a private meeting a few days ago.
“If we hadn’t met with Ho, we probably wouldn’t have known until the revision was passed,” he said.
Confederation of Taipei Trade Unions (CTTU) chief executive director Chou Chia-chun (周佳君) agreed.
“We would have been on our way to Tainan right now to attend a public hearing organized by [DPP] Legislator William Lai [賴清德] if we hadn’t found out about today’s legislative agenda,” she said. “I think the public hearing was just a way to get us away from Taipei so we wouldn’t be able to protest while they pass the revision.”
Unions are opposed to the revision because it would grant the Council of Labor Affairs the power to suspend union activities and even fire union officials over union activities the council considered illegal. The amendment also proposes removing a clause in the Labor Union Act that makes union membership mandatory for industries and firms with unions.
Activists believe that removal of the mandatory membership clause would lead to destruction of unions and labor rights movements.
“We would like to again urge lawmakers to not put the revision on any legislative agenda during this legislative session until they have talked to us and heard what we have to say,” Chou said.
Representatives from the unions yesterday met Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and the KMT and DPP caucuses to voice their concerns.
The legislature ended up not discussing the amendments yesterday after DPP lawmakers paralyzed the legislative meeting to protest the government’s decision to lift the ban on importing bone-in beef and beef organs from the US.
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