The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday said it would promote a referendum to repeal controversial amendments to the labor law and provide free legal consultation to workers nationwide.
The legislature on Wednesday passed amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) amid protests from opposition parties and labor groups, with many expressing concern that it would increase the chances of workers injuring themselves at work and health issues caused by overwork.
“The NPP believes it is necessary to hold a referendum to repeal the amendments because of widespread opposition,” NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said at a news conference at the NPP caucus office in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
A telephone survey conducted by the party on Thursday found that 68 percent of respondents support holding a referendum to repeal the amendments, NPP Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said.
The survey gathered 1,082 responses from across the nation, he added.
The NPP is also promoting a referendum to initiate an act on the minimum wage and another referendum that asks: “Whether the president should convene a ‘citizens’ constitutional convention’ to redraft the Constitution and let the public decide whether to adopt the new constitution through a referendum,” Huang said.
According to the NPP, the referendum proposals have received the most votes in an online poll conducted by the party.
“We hope the referendums for repealing the labor law amendments and passing a minimum wage act can be run alongside the elections at the end of the year,” Hsu said.
As for the referendum to redraft the Constitution, which Hsu described as “less urgent,” the party hopes to run it with the presidential election, he said.
To hold the referendums, each proposal must gather 1,879 signatures in the first stage and 28,1745 votes in the second stage.
To pass, 4,595,748 people must vote to agree. People can sign the referendum proposals on paper and online, Huang said.
“I hope we can work for the same goal and eventually work together on this,” Hsu said when asked whether the party would collaborate with other groups to promote the referendums.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) and other groups yesterday also announced a plan to promote a referendum to repeal the labor law amendments.
“Workers are not robots that can work 24/7; but are people of flesh and blood, with family, lovers and dreams,” SDP convenor Fan Yun (范雲) said at a news conference. “It is time that we stop putting up with things as they are and take action to change our lives.”
SDP member Cheng Hao-chung (鄭皓中) urged young people to stand up for their rights and sign the proposal, saying that they hope to collect 2,000 signatures by the Lunar New Year.
The NPP’s New Taipei City chapter yesterday also launched a free legal consultation service for workers.
To protect workers from being overworked under the new labor law, the chapter has set up a “overwork complaint hotline,” NPP New Taipei City Chapter executive director Chen Chih-ming (陳志明) said, adding that people can use the service to ask about their labor rights.
The hotline number is (02) 2250-3225 and the e-mail address is npp.newtpe@npptw.org. The service is available from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.
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
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
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
Suspected Chinese spies posing as Taiwanese tourists have been arrested for allegedly taking photographs of Philippine Coast Guard ships, local media reported. The suspected spies stayed at a resort in Palawan, where from a secluded location they used their phones to record coast guard ships entering and leaving a base, Philippine TV network GMA said on Wednesday. Palawan is near the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) and other disputed areas of the South China Sea, where tensions have been on the rise between China and the Philippines. The suspects allegedly also used drones without permission and installed cameras on coconut trees in the
RSS