Mon, May 21, 2018 page3

• Tsai has failed workers: groups

  LABOR RIGHTS: Protesters rallied on Ketagalan Boulevard, shouting ‘no more overwork.’ One protester said that President Tsai Ing-wen has rolled back labor conditions 30 years

  • By Ann Maxon / Staff reporter
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  A coalition of labor rights groups accused President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of failing to deliver on her campaign promises to workers at a protest yesterday morning as Tsai marked the second anniversary of her inauguration.

  About 40 protesters rallied outside the Presidential Office Building on Ketagalan Boulevard, holding placards and shouting “no more overwork.”

  “We are here today because President Tsai promised workers that she would raise salaries, reduce work hours, encourage the organization of unions, protect non-regular employees, help young and elderly people find jobs, and take care of those with work-related injuries and illnesses,” Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions member Wei Yu-ling (魏豫綾) said. “However, in the past two years, she has fulfilled almost none of them.”

  

  Members of labor rights groups perform a skit outside the Presidential Office Building on Ketagalan Boulevard yesterday. The protesters in the foreground are wearing masks of President Tsai Ing-wen and Premier William Lai, while those in the background are wearing capes reading “overwork.”

  Photo: Lee Ya-wen, Taipei Times

  To justify its poor labor policies, the government has blamed migrant workers, saying that they are the reason the average monthly salary has not increased, she said, referring to a comment by Vice Premier Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) on Monday that the nation’s real average wage last year would have been the highest in 18 years if migrant workers’ earnings were not included.

  Wei called on the public to back two referendum proposals that labor groups are promoting.

  While one aims to reinstate seven public holidays that the government scrapped in 2016, the other proposes to repeal controversial amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) that were passed in January.

  

  Members of labor rights groups, wearing capes saying “overwork,” lie on the street outside the Presidential Office Building on Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard yesterday.

  Photo: CNA

  Under the new law, which took effect on March 1, employees can work for up to 12 consecutive days with less rest time between shifts and less overtime pay.

  Many protesters voted for Tsai in 2016, hoping that she would improve labor conditions, Labor Rights Association executive director Wang Chuan-ping (王娟萍) said.

  “Tsai has failed to deliver on her campaign promises to workers and to make matters worse, she cut seven public holidays and watered down the labor law,” Wang said.

  

  Members of labor rights groups hold placards calling for an end to excessive work hours as they demonstrate outside the Presidential Office Building on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: Lee Ya-wen, Taipei Times

  “In just two years, she has managed to roll labor conditions back 30 years,” she said.

  More people should support the referendum proposals because labor rights affect not only workers, she said.

  “Within the top 10 most overworked industries are the medical and transportation sectors,” she said, adding that when medical professionals and bus drivers are overworked, the quality of medical care and public safety are at stake.

  For the referendums to be held alongside the Nov. 24 elections, they must gather 281,745 signatures by July 31, she added.

  “The new Labor Standards Act was passed to meet the practical needs of industries. It ensures that workers are safe and have flexibility at work,” the Ministry of Labor said in a statement issued after the protest.

  “The government adjusted the public holidays as a supplementary measure to the new five-day workweek,” it said.

  Before the adjustment, private-sector employees had seven more public holidays than civil servants.

  “People across Taiwan now have the same public holidays, preventing scheduling problems,” it said.
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