Following the death of a social worker in Taitung County last month, allegedly from overwork, dozens of her colleagues yesterday staged a demonstration outside the Control Yuan over what they called the government’s refusal to provide better benefits to workers and lack of manpower.
“Are we not professional enough? Do we not have professional knowledge and skills?” Modern Women’s Foundation executive director Yao Shu-wen (姚淑文), a veteran social worker, called out through a loudspeaker.
“No!” the protesters shouted back.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“Then why does the government refuse to give us professional pensions?” Yao asked.
The Executive Yuan’s Central Personnel Administration (CPA) has rejected requests for professional pensions and hazard pay, based on the argument that professional pensions do not apply to people without the status of government employees even if they work for the government. It also maintains that social workers’ jobs are not as “hazardous” as that of police officers and firefighters.
However, Yao said that as a result of manpower shortages, social workers often have to work overtime and are on call 24 hours a day without additional pay.
On some occasions, they also find themselves in life-threatening situations.
“There was even one instance when, as a social worker was accompanying a victim of [domestic] abuse to court, gang members affiliated with the victim’s husband blocked every doorway at the courthouse while attacking the spouse and the social worker,” Yao said.
Taiwan Coalition Against Violence president Chou Ching-yu (周清玉) said social workers were poorly paid because the majority were working on contract despite working for government social affairs departments.
“One example is that of a senior social worker in Changhua County who has worked as a social worker for more than 30 years and is now a supervisor. However, her monthly pay is slightly more than NT$40,000,” Chou said.
Raising social workers’ pay would make an important contribution, as many end up quitting because they don’t earn enough to support their families, Chou added.
Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation executive director Kang Shu-hua (康淑華) said that while more than 120,000 cases of domestic abuse and sexual assault requiring the intervention of social workers were reported annually, the nation has only about 660 social workers.
“This shows the government doesn’t really care about social workers or the people they help,” Kang said. “Their mentality is that it’s good enough as long as nothing [bad] happens.”
Social workers said they could no longer bear the situation, which had been allowed to simmer for years, after the death of Taitung social worker Fang Feng-chen (方鳳珍) late last month.
Following her death, the groups filed a petition with the Control Yuan asking it to launch a probe into whether the CPA and the Ministry of the Interior were guilty of administrative wrongdoing.
Responding to the protest, the ministry’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Committee executive secretary Chien Hui-chuan (簡慧娟) said it was committed to helping government-employed social workers qualify for professional pensions and hazard pay, adding that the ministry would also discuss salary adjustments for outsourced and contractual social workers with the Cabinet.
Chien said the ministry had also launched a six-year project to increase manpower.
“This year, 600 more social workers will be introduced, with at least 200 focusing solely on cases of domestic abuse and sexual assault,” she said.
CPA Chief Secretary Chang Nien-chung (張念中) said the administration was reviewing regulations.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College