The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday rejected the possibility of working with the New Power Party (NPP) over proposed amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), with DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) denouncing a sit-in protest by NPP lawmakers as an “irrational boycott” of the legislation.
Ker criticized the NPP for its “lack of sincerity” as a hunger strike launched in front of the Presidential Office Building by NPP lawmakers demanding the amendment’s withdrawal continued into its third day.
The hunger strike and a failed attempt on Friday by NPP lawmakers to occupy the legislative chamber to forestall an extraordinary legislative session were “irrational and unwarranted actions to gain the limelight,” Ker said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Asked about the possibility of the DPP working with the NPP over the legislation, Ker said: “There is not even room for negotiations.”
Ker, who posted online an editorial by the Chinese-language China Times criticizing the NPP’s actions and saying that the momentum of “the Sunflower movement has collapsed,” said the NPP’s demand that the amendment be retracted was improbable.
The NPP did not propose an amendment as a proper legislative strategy, but has instead engaged in disruptive strategies, he said.
“Although the NPP was vocally critical about the ‘one fixed day off and one flexible rest day’ policy during the last revision of the act [in 2015], they now say that no changes should be made,” Ker said, adding that about 60 percent of respondents to opinion polls support the idea of revising the policy.
“There is no possibility of communication and cooperation without [the NPP being] reasonable. Can mere confrontation result in cooperation? There cannot be cooperation unless [the NPP] returns to reasonable dialogue,” Ker said.
DPP caucus chief executive Liu Chao-hao (劉櫂豪) also said his party has “no communication channels” with the NPP and urged the latter to return to the negotiation table.
DPP lawmakers have since Friday been guarding the legislative chamber’s entrance to guarantee that today’s legislative session is not interrupted.
DPP lawmakers would make sure that the party’s proposed amendments are on top of the legislative agenda and would prevent opposition parties from flooding the session with motions, Liu said.
Meanwhile, Minister Without Portfolio Chang Ching-sen (張景森) commented on a Facebook post by human rights lawyer Chen Meng-hsiu (陳孟秀), who criticized what he said was a disproportionate police presence and security barriers around the NPP sit-in.
Chang asked whether party assistants were being overworked because of NPP lawmakers’ actions, and how much rest and overtime pay they would receive.
“If [NPP Executive Chairman] Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) could not [allow party employees a proper rest], many small and medium-sized enterprises could not do so either, suggesting that workplace flexibility is necessary. Otherwise, small and medium-sized enterprises, such as the NPP, cannot function or even survive,” Chang wrote.
“[We] have negotiated with the NPP for a long time. Their political strategy is to divide DPP supporters with radical policies. Further negotiations will not yield a different result,” he wrote.
All NPP assistants meet the requirements for the labor act, NPP Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said.
The NPP also gives assistants seven annual leave days, which is better than what is required by the act, Hsu said.
Police allowed only legislators’ assistants to enter the restricted area, Hsu added.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
RSS