The government has yet to approve the protest route submitted by the unions, which would take the protest to the Control Yuan.

Regardless of whether approval is granted, the unions vowed to march on the Executive Yuan this Friday.

The unions called on President Ma Ying-jeou to fulfill his campaign promises, and slammed the government for its ineffectual policies, such as the Ministry of Education's and the Council of Labor Affair's recent employment initiatives.

The unions organizing the protest include the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCF), the National Federation of Bank Employees Unions, the Youth Labor Union 95, and 5 other unions.

The slogan of the protest will be “fight unemployment, uphold dignity.”

Mao Chen-fei, one of the union leaders, said the unions have contacted the government about the aims of their protest, but have thus far received no response.

He further slammed the current administration for failing to propose any effective policies to combat unemployment. The unemployment rate reached 5.81 percent in march.

Hsieh Chuang-chih, secretary of TCF, said that in addition to the eight unions organizing the protest, another 91 unions have pledged their support. He said that 8,500 people already signed up for the march, with more expected to join.

Shih Chao-hsien, president of TCF, pointed out that one-third of those joining the march will are employees of public companies.

He said that recent actions by the government have caused outrage among these employees, including President Ma's demand that these companies submit restructuring proposals to him within one day, and legislators saying that public corporations “did not need face.”

Source from China Post