The Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) yesterday launched a program to provide free therapy and counseling to those who have lost their jobs.
After three months of planning, the council hired more than 70 psychology experts and therapists to provide counseling by telephone. Its official Web site also provides information about looking for a job, how to relieve stress, crisis management, labor laws and government resources.
Council Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) told a press conference yesterday that individuals who have lost jobs should not have to face unemployment alone and that the government and society can lend a hand.
The council listed six dos and four don’ts for people helping individuals who have lost their job.
The Dos are: Do sympathize; Do tolerate; Do care; Do encourage; Do give chances; and Do accompany. The don’ts are: Don’t blame; Don’t attack personally; Don’t be sarcastic; and Don’t irritate.
“Don’t tell them things like they were fired because they are unskilled or lazy or stupid. Don’t make fun of them and say that while they are supposed to be the family’s breadwinner, they have yet to earn a penny,” Wang said. “Saying such things may push them over the edge.”
While the free counseling services are aimed at individual workers, companies can also apply to have a professional therapist come over to provide counseling to employees, Wang said.
In related news, dozens of employees at ARD Precision Machinery Co yesterday gathered in front of the CLA building to protest, claiming the company owed them a year’s salary.
They said the company had been in financial trouble for seven years because of mismanagement and investment losses. As a result, the company has failed to pay its 60 employees for almost a year, as well as their pension, labor and health insurance fees and severance pay.
Shouting “Give me my hard-earned money, I want to survive,” a male worker in his 40s said he had repeatedly asked the company to pay him, but his boss only told him: “Borrow from friends and family.”
The workers said that as the company had failed to pay their National Health Insurance (NHI) premiums, their NHI cards had been deactivated.
We’re facing a dilemma, the protesters said: If we leave the company, we might never get paid. But if we stay, the company will only accumulate more debt.
The employees called on the council to intervene by ordering the company to pay all unpaid salaries and benefits and to bar company executives from leaving the country.
The council’s Department of Labor Management Relations said it had begun processing the case and sent officials to mediate between the employer and workers.
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