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Activist groups set up hunger strikes to take on increasing poverty
TAIPEI--Anti-poverty groups in Taiwan will launch hunger strikes Oct. 16-20 to highlight the issue of poverty in the country and push for legislation that benefits economically disadvantaged people.
Two 44-hour hunger strikes will be staged to protest low income and poverty problems, which have exacerbated the uneven distribution of wealth in Taiwan, Anti-Poverty Alliance founder Chien Hsi-chieh said at a press conference yesterday.
The sit-in protests, to take place from Oct. 16 to 18 and from Oct. 18 to 20, will be held in front of the Legislative Yuan.
Chien said employee wages in Taiwan accounted for only 44 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in recent years, down from 51 percent in the late 1990s, a downward trend that has been seen in many other countries around the world.
Even when Taiwan's GDP grew 10.8 percent and labor productivity rose 16 percent in 2010, labor costs for employers fell 11 percent, Chien said, an indication that workers were not receiving a fair share of the gains they were helping create.
He also questioned why the government gave preferential treatment, such as a sales tax exemption, to banks but not to other sectors, and said mounting frustration over the plight of the average wage earner would express itself as it had in recent weeks on Wall Street.
“Occupy Wall Street is not a single incident but is spreading around the world,” Chien said.
Joseph Lin, a lawyer who advises a group consisting of victims of credit card debt, said that as many as 1.04 million Taiwanese, or 15 percent of the working population, earn less than NT$20,000 (US$660) a month.
That means there are 220,000 more people in that income group than in 2008, when the global financial crisis hit.
Chen Fang-yu, member of local youth group Youthoya, said that one-fourth of those in the 20-30 age bracket toil as contract workers and do not have their rights protected.
He said with incomes so low and housing prices high, “who still wants to get married and have children?”
The groups called on ruling Kuomintang and opposition Democratic Progressive Party legislators to quickly pass amendments to the country's housing, student loan and consumer debt clearance laws during the current legislative session to protect the rights of the disadvantaged.
The groups also voiced support for an “Occupy Taipei” action, launched by Internet users in Taiwan. The event will take place a day prior to the hunger strike at the base of Taipei 101.
source:www.ChinaPost.com.tw
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