More than a dozen representatives of nursing unions yesterday held a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taipei to protest an amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) that reduces the minimum rest time between shifts to eight hours in exceptional circumstances.
Article 34 of the amended act stipulates that the minimum rest time between shifts can be reduced to eight hours, but must be agreed through labor-management negotiations, approved by the central competent authority and passed by the Ministry or Labor.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare, as the authority, earlier this month released a statement saying that the minimum rest time could only be reduced to eight hours when major disasters, emergencies or serious epidemics occur, and must be negotiated through a labor-management meeting.
The ministry yesterday morning held a meeting with medical associations to discuss the provisions of the article.
Before the meeting began, demonstrators outside chanted “the minimum rest time between shifts should be at least 11 hours to avoid death from overwork” while holding a white banner that read “the ministry should not be an accomplice of ‘blood-and-sweat working conditions.’”
Articles 32 and 40 of the act could already have been used to deal with special conditions, so amending Article 34 could allow hospitals to make “exceptional” conditions the routine, Chiayi Christian Hospital Labor Union deputy chairman Wu Wen-an (巫文安) said.
Not allowing healthcare practitioners get enough rest does not help in emergencies, because they might make more mistakes due to fatigue, he said, adding that it would also lead to personnel shortages in other shifts, so recruiting enough workers would be the solution.
The 11 hours of rest principle remains — the only exceptional situations are natural disasters, outbreaks of serious diseases and emergency rescue, Department of Nursing and Healthcare Director-General Tsai Shu-feng (蔡淑鳳) said.
The meeting was held to clarify the principle and the three exceptions to the associations, Tsai added.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
RSS