The May 1 Action Alliance on Monday announced that an appeal for a referendum on workers’ rights and wage increases are to be the focus of the Workers’ Day march in Taipei on Tuesday next week.
The annual march is to begin on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building and proceed to the Legislative Yuan a few blocks away, said the alliance, which is comprised of trade unions.
The focus of this year’s event is to be “opposition to overwork and demanding a referendum on higher wages and workers’ rights,” it said.
The alliance opposes this year’s revisions to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), which it has criticized as “backsliding” on workers’ rights.
The alliance is proposing holding a referendum so the “vicious revisions” can be overturned.
Labor Rights Referendum Alliance member Hsieh Yi-hung (謝毅弘) said efforts are being made to solicit endorsement of the proposed referendum, which would also call for a new law that regulates national holidays and returns the seven holidays that were canceled as part of the amended law.
The alliance hopes that 300,000 signatures backing the referendum can be collected before the end of August so that the referendum can be held at the same time as the nine-in-one local elections on Nov. 24, Hsieh said.
Calling for the monthly minimum wage to be raised from NT$22,000 to NT$28,000 over the next three years, Taiwan Higher Education Union researcher Chen Po-chien (陳柏謙) said that the nation experienced accumulated economic growth of more than 20 percent from 2007 to 2016.
During that period, the consumer price index rose 9.1 percent, but the earnings of private-sector workers only grew 8.3 percent.
“Taiwanese workers should be given a 10 percent wage increase every year over the next three years,” Chen said. “This is no more than a basic requirement.”
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
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