Workers protest for victims of Hsuehshan Tunnel construction

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on June 7, 2006. It reports that officials at the Ministry of Transportation and Communications are currently busy preparing for the formal inauguration of the Hsuehshan Tunnel. However, labor rights advocates in Taiwan are also working hard to remind the government about the sacrifices made by various workers for this major public construction project.

Supporters of the Taiwan Association for Victims of Occupational Injuries recently protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. They asked the ministry to set up a monument in order to remember those laborers who died during the tunnel's construction.

According to the association, the government underreported the actual number of deaths and injuries that had occurred over the course of the construction. While the Ministry claimed that 13 workers died and 3 were injured between 1998 and 2005, no statistics were provided before 1998.

According to the association, many contractors of the construction project did not dare to report occupational injuries because they did not have insurance for the workers. The association plans to stage a walkout near the tunnel on the day it opens to the public.

In response, the Taiwan Area National Expressway Engineering Bureau said that a monument has already been made to honor those dead and injured workers. The names of 25 workers who died because of the construction project will be listed on the monument. These include 12 Taiwanese workers and 13 Thai workers.