The Ministry of Labor yesterday announced that it was withdrawing all lawsuits against members of the National Alliance for Workers of Closed-Off Factories, following a recent ruling in favor of some of the workers.
The alliance, meanwhile, pledged to pursue the officials involved.
“Since it may take a long time for the judiciary to clarify whether the controversy involves public law or private law, I hereby announce that the ministry will withdraw all lawsuits against the laid-off workers to maintain social harmony, avoid wasting more judicial resources and free the workers from the suffering,” Minister of Labor Pan Shih-wei (潘世偉) told a news conference yesterday afternoon.
Photo: CNA
“For people who have repaid their loans, the money will be returned to them,” he said.
Pan was referring to a controversial case that started more than 17 years ago, when several factories went out of business, and the employers fled, leaving hundreds of their employees without severance or retirement pay.
After repeated protests by the workers, the Council of Labor Affairs at the time devised a plan to hand out severance and retirement pay to the workers as loans, promising the workers that they would not have to repay them. Instead, their former employers would be held responsible.
However, about two years ago when the repayment deadline approached, the council backflipped and asked the workers to repay the debts, suing those who were unable or refused to repay, triggering another wave of protests by the workers.
On Friday, the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled on five cases involving 12 former workers, saying they do not have to repay the loan, since it was not a loan per se, but replacement for severance and retirement payouts.
At the time, Pan said he would wait until he receives the written verdict before deciding whether to appeal.
Yesterday, he said that not only is the ministry not filing an appeal, but it will withdraw the remaining cases.
Reacting to the announcement, alliance spokeswoman Chen Hsiu-lien (陳秀蓮) said the workers were unhappy with the tone of the ministry’s announcement.
“It is as if the ministry is doing the workers a big favor, but the truth is we won in court because of our hard work over the past 17 years, carrying out numerous hunger strikes, long marches and protests, with at least two activists being jailed and about a dozen facing prosecution,” Chen said.
“Yet, the ministry is acting as if it’s the savior. They [officials] are shameless,” she said.
Chen added that said that up to now, there are still other workers owed salaries or retirement pay by their former employers.
“We’re not only concerned about our own problems; we think there’s a need for a change, and we will continue to push for legal amendments to better protect workers’ rights,” she said.
Tseng Wei-kai (曾威凱), an attorney who represented the workers in court, said that although Pan announced that the ministry was dropping all cases, “he still insists that it’s a loan, which means he is not admitting to the mistake.”
“The lawsuits may have ended, but the pursuit of the legal and administrative responsibilities of all officials involved is just beginning,” he said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai