I was the labor representative at the Council of Labor Affairs’ (CLA) minimum wage review committee. Government representatives heavily dominated the whole review process, while labor, business and academic representatives merely played a supporting role. The nominal participation of labor and business representatives as a ploy to cover up the government’s complete domination of the process.
It appears as though the government has forgotten the Act to Implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (公民與政治權利國際公約) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (經濟社會文化權利國際公約施行法).
Article 7 of the latter clearly states that: “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favorable conditions of work which ensure, in particular: Remuneration which provides all workers, as a minimum, with: ... A decent living for themselves and their families in accordance with the provisions of the present Covenant.”
However, the wage hike failed to meet the goal of maintaining a decent living for all workers and their families. Obviously, it was a violation of the act. In addition, the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions’ calculation of the minimum per capita monthly consumption expenditures multiplied by the number of dependents was ignored.
A look at the process for reviewing the minimum wage shows that the CLA amended the Regulations for the Fixing of Basic Wages (基本工資審議辦法) late last year to increase the proportional representation of labor and business representatives. The amendment was then submitted to the Cabinet, which did not approve it until Aug 26. Then, on Sept. 7, the CLA confirmed the appointed labor and business representatives, and the first meeting was held on Sept. 13. The government’s haste is difficult to understand.
After the labor and business representatives expressed their stances at the first meeting, there was a 30-minute break, supposedly to allow the committee members to discuss the issue, but there was no time allotted for further negotiation.
After the break, CLA Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) closed further discussion by announcing the predetermined wage hike of 3.47 percent and submitted it to the Cabinet for approval, completely ignoring the opinions of the labor and business representatives. In no way can it be said that the decision was consensus-based as the Cabinet claimed, because there was no consensus reached.
The wage hike was based on the consumer price index growth rate of 4.47 percent, but that was adjusted to 3.47 percent after taking the unemployment rate into account. In its arbitrary willfulness, this utterly subjective decision completely ignored the view of the labor representatives.
The minimum wage has not been raised in three years. As a comparison, minimum wages in Japan and South Korea were increased by 3.78 and 18.1 percent respectively, over this period. Even China raised its minimum wage by 17 percent in the first quarter this year.
Having faced growing rent, housing and commodity prices over the past three years, Taiwanese workers are in a very difficult situation. For the 1.58 million workers at the bottom of the ladder who live on the minimum wage, the increase of NT$3 to their hourly wage or NT$600 to their monthly wage means absolutely nothing.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and his Cabinet members continuously claim that Taiwan’s economy is about to take off now that the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) has been signed. It seems the pockets of the general public and workers at the bottom of the ladder remain empty.
Lin Chin-yung is a managing board director of the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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