Political forces shaping labor protests: groups

By Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Pro-independence organizations yesterday rallied outside the Legislative Yuan building to support Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), who was allegedly attacked by protesters outside the building on Friday last week. The rally condemned the violence and said that political forces are manipulating labor protests to cause social instability.

Accompanied by other pro-

independence campaigners, Chilly Chen (陳峻涵), office director of the 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign, said they condemn violence against any legislator and thanked the police for protecting Ker from “life-threatening danger” during Friday’s scuffle.

Chen brought a bouquet of flowers to Ker, but he was conducting cross-party negotiations at the legislature and did not come outside to take the bouquet.

“We condemn the attack ... allegedly carried out by labor protesters. They have deliberately introduced violent tactics to obstruct the legislative process. Their action has damaged our society’s commitment to the rule of law,” he said.

Chen demanded that the judiciary conduct an investigation to find out if the attackers were political agitators pretending to be labor rights advocates to stir up chaos.

“We support our labor friends and protection of labor rights, but we are against hidden forces using agitators to instigate violence and cause division in society,” he said.

Taiwanese National Party

Secretary-General Chang Chun-jung (張春榮) said the ongoing labor protests are only supported by a small segment of society, because the organizations involved in them have questionable motives and are manipulated by political parties as a means to undermine the DPP government.

“It is known that some trade unions were not really fighting for workers’ rights, but were set up for token representation. For a long time, the top leaderships of these trade unions have been controlled and appointed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and these dark forces still pervade in Taiwan’s labor union movement,” Chang said.

Chang urged pro-independence organizations and civic groups to closely monitor the labor protests.

“It was obvious that the protesters channeled their hostility against the DPP, whereas the decision to cut seven national holidays and most of the current labor policies were made during past KMT administrations. Yet these protesters are colluding with KMT and pro-unification groups in an attempt to destabilize our society and create divisions among the public,” Chang said.