Hundreds of employees of state-run firms staged a protest Wednesday, calling for the government to clarify their status and ensure that they are provided with benefits to which they are entitled. Demonstrating in front of the Legislative Yuan, the protesters -- union members from several state-owned enterprises, including Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) , Taiwan Sugar Corp., CPC Corp., Taiwan, and Taiwan Water Corp. -- accused the government of failing to enshrine their rights and clear status under the law. They urged the government to clarify whether they are classed as government civil servants or laborers. Pan Hsin-chung, secretary-general of the Taipower union, said that due to the vagueness of their status, employees of state-owned companies are not entitled to labor pensions under the Labor Standards Act. At the same time, Pan said, they are also not entitled to the monthly pension civil servants receive after retirement or the preferential 18 percent bank deposit interest rate that civil servants get. Worse still, he went on, employees of state-owned companies are nevertheless subject to punishments designed for civil servants should they misbehave. Pan said that as a state-run company employee, he feels like an orphan, sacrificed on the one hand to a twisted legal structure, while being misunderstood by the public on the other. 