Scuffles broke out among lawmakers yesterday at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee and Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, as they began reviewing proposed amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
The review, which was scheduled to start at 9am, did not begin until after 11am. Later, a motion to extend the review to midnight was passed.
New Power Party (NPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers tried to boycott the review by disputing the time limit for each lawmaker’s speech, but dissenters were forcibly carried away from the podium by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) tendered a motion to amend articles 32, 34 and 36 of the act.
The Cabinet’s draft bill would amend Article 32 to cap an employee’s working hours at 138 hours every three months, while Lin proposed that it be changed to 138 hours for three “consecutive” months.
As for Article 34, the Cabinet’s version would require at least 11 hours of rest between shifts, which could be shortened to eight hours if employers and employees reach a consensus.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
While the Cabinet plans to loosen the “one rest day” rule by amending Article 36, Lin proposed maintaining the version that was passed in December last year.
A motion tendered by DPP Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) to limit each lawmaker’s speech to six minutes — four plus two — was passed with the support of DPP lawmakers.
Opposition parties continued to try to delay the review by extending their speeches as long as possible, while disputing the time limit.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The ruling party should have stuck to its past position, NPP Legislator Kawlo Iyun Pacidal said, citing a protest in 2014 by DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) against the three-minute time limit during a legislative review of a draft of the special regulations for free economic pilot zones (自由經濟示範區特別條例).
DPP lawmakers are replicating the political injustices that were ruled out by the nation’s voters, NPP caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said.
Amid intermittent scuffles between legislators of various parties, DPP Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀), who chaired the meeting, ordered an end to discussions on articles 24 and 32, and pushed them to a cross-caucus negotiation.
Photo: CNA
Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to protest against the Cabinet’s draft amendment.
Barricades were on Sunday placed outside the legislative compound, while about 700 police officers were deployed to block off the area and form a human wall in front of protesters on Jinan Road.
At 11am, protesters tried to storm the compound, hurled eggs at the legislative building and scuffled with police, while clashes broke out as a result of two failed attempts to breach the police cordon.
The protest was still ongoing as of press time last night.
Additional reporting by CNA
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats