A panel group under the Economic Development Advisory Conference has decided that a proposal to move to an hourly wage system is simply to hot to handle.
The proposal, called "no work, no pay," would have meant a huge reduction in pay for the nation's workers.
Labor groups were opposed to the measure because workers wouldn't receive compensation for their days off, as they do under the present system.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
In addition, the labor panel said the minimum wage of NT$15,840 for both foreign and local workers should be kept. There were proposals earlier to do away with the wage guarantee.
"It's very difficult for one to survive on the current monthly minimum wage of NT$15,840," said Lin Hui-kwung (林惠官), president of the Chinese Federation of Labor and a participant on the employment panel. "Some workers have to support families on these wages."
Pai Cheng-sheng (
"Besides, if workers lack purchasing power, how can economic development be ensured?" Pai said.
Still, while the panel has taken a hands-off approach to the minimum wage for now, the group said it would urge the Council of Labor Affairs to consider adjusting it in the future.
But no specific proposal as to how the wage should changed was put forth.
For foreign workers, the panel put its weight behind a Council of Labor Affairs proposal to deduct food and rent allowances from their paychecks.
Chen Chu (
The government hopes to implement the plan in September, when NT$2,500 per month will be deducted from workers' paychecks, an amount that will eventually rise to NT$5,000.
By far the issue that had caused the biggest brouhaha yesterday was the proposal to move to an hourly pay system.
In January, a revised version of the Labor Standards Law was implemented, reducing working hours from 48 per week to 84 hours per fortnight.
Because workers are paid for their days off, the change meant that employees were getting an additional six paid hours off per week -- in effect a back-door pay raise.
To avoid giving workers more time off for the same amount of pay, some companies proposed moving to the hourly system.
Chen yesterday said she supported the idea, saying that it was an international trend.
But she later denied, however, that the council supported the shift after her comments angered labor movement officials.
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
RSS