The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday announced the establishment of a new campaign unit to stump on economic issues in the run-up to the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections.
At a news conference at its headquarters in Taipei, DPP Secretary-General Hung Yao-fu (洪耀福) said that the party has accomplished much in improving the economy, and sharing the fruits of that growth is an important objective of the party.
The DPP platform is defined by reform and creating an economy that will make Taiwan a more equitable, rich and powerful country, he said, adding that improved wages and tax cuts are thanks to the government.
Photo: CNA
Members of the unit are to travel throughout the nation and share their experiences, as well as explain the economic achievements of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, he said.
In an apparent endorsement of the DPP, heads of the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions, Federation of Craft Workers Unions and Chung Hwa Rotary Educational Foundation also spoke at the news conference.
The labor incidents bill that the DPP administration is drafting is sympathetic to workers’ interests, Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions secretary-general Tai Kuo-jung (戴國榮) said.
The government’s draft bill is to place the burden of proof for workplace accidents on employers and improve workers’ accessibility to labor arbitration process, he said.
Should the bill become law, it would rectify the imbalance of power and access to information between employers and workers, he said.
“I support the administration because the labor incidents act would improve working conditions, and more importantly, it is a crucial step toward protecting labor rights and human rights in Taiwan,” he said.
The government has increased the minimum wage by 9.72 percent, or NT$1,992 (US$64.25), and additional increases planned next year are to bring the minimum wage to NT$23,100 per month and NT$150 per hour, Federation of Craft Workers Unions chairman Chang Chia-ming (張家銘) said.
The public had been skeptical of the government’s ability to increase the minimum wage, because it had been unable to do so for eight years when run by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), he said.
“The numbers clearly show that the DPP administration can take care of underprivileged citizens without losing the support of its enterprises,” he said. “Steady increases of the minimum wage would guarantee that the fruits of the economy are shared by all.”
Foreign investments have increased by 75 percent from 2015 to last year, while foreign capital inflow in April was valued at US$2.47 million, representing an increase of 69 percent [baseline of comparison unavailable], Chung Hwa Rotary Educational Foundation chairman Chen Mao-jen (陳茂仁) said.
Google’s decision to expand its operations in Taiwan and Winbond Electronics Corp’s NT$335 billion investment in facilities in Kaohsiung are evidence that tax reforms and deregulation have boosted confidence in Taiwan’s business environment, he said.
The Tsai administration has undertaken important legal reforms that have improved the regulation of businesses, Lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said.
Over the past two years, the Financial Supervisory Commission has made a substantial effort to disentangle the financial sector from its ownership of industries, enhance oversight of business administration and build a fair national market, he said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS