Labor campaigners yesterday rallied outside the Legislative Yuan building to protest against proposed amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), demanding that lawmakers scrap the amendments, which they said would institutionalize inferior working conditions prevalent in the nation.
More than 100 protesters from the Workers’ Struggle Alliance, Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions and the Trade Union of Electrical, Electronic and Information Workers in Taiwan gathered outside the Legislative Yuan, criticizing what they called the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) attempt to force the amendments through the legislature.
The proposed amendments seek to scrap seven national holidays and implement “one flexible rest day and one fixed day off” to accommodate a 40-hour workweek bill passed last year.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Following news that the legislature was to vote on the amendments after the DPP caucus resumed a floor meeting brought to a halt by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, protesters threw smoke grenades into the premises of the Legislative Yuan and burned joss paper outside its gates.
“The DPP has become a different party after the elections. Before the elections, to garner our support the DPP promised that it would not axe the seven holidays, but after it won the elections, the party rears its ugly head just like the KMT,” Hsinchu Confederation of Trade Unions director Chan Su-chen (詹素貞) said.
Many of the protesters had previously worked with the DPP on social issues, but “the DPP turned into another KMT” once it assumed power, Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions director Mao Chen-fei (毛振飛) said.
Protesters held placards bearing the pictures of DPP lawmakers, describing them as “holiday killers.”
“Follow the will of the public. Go against the party’s will. Do not kill the holidays,” protesters chanted, urging DPP lawmakers to act on personal values instead of as a rubber stamp for the party.
DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) is the only DPP lawmaker who sided with the protesters and she is to receive disciplinary action for refusing to attend yesterday’s legislative meeting, alliance member Lu Chyi-horng (盧其宏) said.
“President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said labor rights was where she was the most vulnerable, but what we see is the government’s plan to slash seven holidays,” Lu said.
One of Tsai’s campaign pledges was to reduce working hours and implement a five-day workweek, but the DPP administration’s “rest day” policy could not serve to reduce working hours, as employees could be forced to work on “rest days,” while the number of national holidays would be cut from 19 to 12, alliance member Kuo Kuan-chun (郭冠均) said.
About 53 percent of the public said it did not support the cancelation of seven national holidays and only 35 percent said they accepted the cancelation, Kuo said.
A hunger strike is being held because the amendments are the only labor law revision in 16 years, but the DPP seeks to create a loophole for employers to exploit workers with the “rest day” policy, protesters said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as