The Executive Yuan yesterday proposed an amendment to the Civil Servant Association Act (公務人員協會法) to safeguard firefighters’ rights, after a blaze and subsequent explosions at Launch Technologies Co’s plant at Pingtung Technology Industrial Park on Friday last week killed four firefighters and five civilians, and injured more than 100 people.
The Cabinet made the statement in response to the call from the National Association for Firefighters’ Rights and other civic groups to allow firefighters to form unions.
They reiterated their appeal at a protest at the Executive Yuan yesterday morning and demanded to have their voices heard in the Cabinet meeting.
Photo courtesy of the Changhua County Fire Bureau
Association member Huang Sheng (黃升) said the Executive Yuan’s proposed amendment to the act did not consider input from firefighters, nor can it protect their rights to form a union, engage in collective bargaining and dispute labor practices.
They should be allowed to form a union based on the Labor Union Act (工會法), Huang said.
Association secretary-general Chen Yen-kai (陳彥凱) said that the government should amend the Fire Services Act (消防法) to impose punishments on factory managers whose failure to assist in fire rescue operations have led to the death and injuries of firefighters.
“An amendment to the Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substance Act (毒性及關注化學物質管理法) should also be proposed so that criminal punishment can be issued to business owners who fail to manufacture and store chemical substances based on regulations,” Chen said.
“The Executive Yuan should also propose an amendment to the Public Servants’ Safety and Health Protection Act (公務人員安全及衛生防護辦法) to protect the safety of firefighters,” Chen said.
Cabinet spokesman Lin Tzu-luen (林子倫) said that firefighters are civil servants, and changes to the system should be discussed based on how they carry out their duties.
The fastest way to reinforce their rights to form a workers’ organization and engage in collective bargaining is to propose an amendment to the Civil Servant Association Act, Lin said.
“Considering the danger and urgency of firefighters’ work and uncertainty of disaster zones, we think the most appropriate thing to do is to amend the Fire Services Act,” he said, adding that an occupational safety and health mechanism for firefighters would be established to protect firefighters.
“We have reached a consensus with the Examination Yuan to complete the amendment to the Civil Servant Association Act in one month and to have the amendment deliberated at the Legislative Yuan,” Lin said.
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