【精英翻譯關注新聞】No winners in nearly two-decade labor dispute關廠工今日 @ 【精英翻譯】的部落格

No winners in nearly two-decade labor dispute (2014/03/11)

Workers affected by the labor loan dispute spent nearly two decades fighting to uphold their rights. At issue was whether money provided to them by the government was a loan or compensation. This is their story.

Today Lin Ting-chuan is 79 years old. He joined Hsing Lee Paper Co. 44 years ago. Within three years of working at the factory, an accident with a roll heat press cost him his fingertips.

Lin Ting-chuan
Ex-Hsing Lee Paper Co. Employee
The company made industrial paper. The (accident) happened because we were using low-quality equipment.

Lin remained at work in order to support his family. He then became a victim of widespread factory closures that struck Taiwan.

Lin stood in unison with other factory employees who lost their jobs. They began a series of demonstrations.

In 1997, the then-Council of Labor Affairs sought to end this controversy by giving what it called a loan to more than a thousand former workers of the factory. The money represented pension and severance payments owed to the workers. Several years later, the council sought repayment, which led to new protests.

In February of last year, some of the former factory workers laid on the train tracks at Taipei Railways Station. In April, they began a nine-day fast in front of the council.

Chen Man-ting
Ex-Hsing Lee Paper Co. Employee
I think the Ma government has been heartless over the past two years. It is incapable of empathizing with the pain felt by the people. Resistance during these two years has been more difficult than the preceding 17 or 18 years.

The dispute has reached a conclusion for some of the workers. But there is no way to repay them for their struggles.

關廠工今日

因為關廠受害又被政府追討代償金，關廠工人這18年來，歷經多次抗爭和絕食行動，終於獲得法院的平反，帶您一起來回顧這段歷史。

79歲的林廷泉，44年前進入興利紙業當裁切員，不過才做三年，左手掌就在工作時，被滾燙機夾到，手指頭全斷。

[[關廠工人林廷泉]]
“公司是做工業用紙，當時設備沒有那麼好，才會那樣”

為了養家，他決定留在工廠打拼，沒想到碰上工廠惡性倒閉潮，

他與受害的工人集合在一起，展開一連串的抗爭。

1997年，勞委會為了平息紛爭，讓一千多名關廠工，以貸款名義拿到本來雇主該給的退休金、資遣費等，但多年後開始追討，又引發了另一場大規模的抗議。

2013年2月關廠工人在台北車站臥軌抗爭，4月，他們在勞委會前，展開9天的絕食抗議。

[[關廠工人陳滿庭]]
“這兩年我覺得馬政府非常不仁，無感、沒辦法苦民所苦，這兩年的抗爭，比過去十七十八年前還要辛苦”

現在抗爭得到勝利，卻無法撫平工人們多年來所受的折磨。