The results of a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) poll released on Saturday, which found that 59.7 percent of the public was in favor of proposed amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), clashed with poll results released by the Ministry of Labor on Friday, which showed that 58.4 percent did not support the proposals.
The ministry poll, conducted last month, showed that 58.4 percent of workers felt that the labor policy of one mandatory day off every seven workdays does not need to be adjusted, while only 35.8 percent said they did.
Of the people polled, 26.6 percent said that the limit on overtime work hours, which stands at 46 hours per month, should be changed, while 48.2 percent said that overtime regulations did not need changing.
It showed that 25.2 percent of workers had no opinion on the issue.
Regarding whether there should be any cap at all on monthly overtime hours, 36.5 percent of workers sampled said they were in favor of one, 48.8 percent said no cap was needed and 14.7 percent had no opinion, the poll showed.
However, the DPP poll showed that only 17.9 percent opposed the proposals and a majority said they supported them.
Support for the proposals was evident across party lines, and as nearly 60 percent of respondents support them, the proposals clearly reflect mainstream opinion, the DPP said.
DPP spokesperson Johnny Lin (林琮盛) said the party’s poll showed that public support for changes to the act had not dropped due to the anti-amendment protest held in Taipei on Saturday last week.
More than 53.5 percent of people polled said that the amendments are addressing the different characteristics of different professions and would help smooth out the operation of businesses, Lin said, adding that 30.9 percent of those polled said the amendments could be sacrificing workers’ rights to pander to corporations.
However, after comparing the results with those from polls conducted earlier this month, the party believed that the public has become more convinced that the amendments are proposed with proper motivation, Lin said.
Support for the amendments among people that are 40 to 49-years-old and 50 to 59 years-old stood at 67 percent and 70 percent respectively, Lin said.
Actual public opinion should be publicized in light of the public attention given to the issue, Lin said.
The DPP poll was conducted on Dec. 25 and Dec. 26, has 834 valid samples, a confidence level of 95 percent and 3.4 percentage points margin of error.
The ministry’s poll, conducted in November, relied on 3,135 valid samples, and had confidence level of 95 percent and 1.75 percentage points margin of error.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
RSS