A coalition of labor rights groups yesterday marched in Taipei, demanding that the three presidential candidates respond to their appeals, which include increasing the minimum wage and retirement pay, and abolishing the broker system for migrant workers.
They gathered at noon in front of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) headquarters, then marched to the People First Party’s (PFP) headquarters, the re-election campaign headquarters of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and finally to the Legislative Yuan.
Labor policies were not listed as priorities of the three presidential candidates during their last policy program presentation, while legislator-at-large candidates advocating labor rights also rank low on parties’ lists, said coalition spokesman Hung Ching-fu (洪清福), who is also the chairman of the New Taipei City Confederation of Trade Unions.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
The coalition last month sent letters to the three presidential candidates, asking them to respond to their appeals.
They announced their responses yesterday.
They asked whether the candidates, if elected, would ask businesses to pay more tax to establish a basic workers’ pension system, and whether they would increase the ratio of firms’ contributions to employees’ pensions from 6 percent to 9 percent of salaries.
The candidates were also asked whether they would increase official days off from 116 days to 123 days a year; whether they would propose a timetable for increasing the minimum wage from NT$23,800 to NT$30,000; whether they would lower the threshold required to form a workers’ union from 30 to 10 members, or half of a firm’s total employees; whether they would promote legislation that bans government agencies or private firms from hiring temporary workers for long-term jobs; and whether they would abolish the private broker system for migrant workers and introduce migrant workers through government-to-government agreements.
They also required the next government to reach an agreement with former highway toll collectors on severance pay, as some lost their jobs after the highway toll system became electronic in 2013.
Tsai and Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the KMT’s presidential candidate, replied, but did not address the appeals directly, while PFP presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) did not reply, the coalition said.
Speaking in front of Tsai’s re-election campaign headquarters, Former Freeway Toll Collectors ‘Self-Help Organization president Sun Hsiu-luan (孫秀鑾) vowed to protest against Tsai wherever the president goes, as she failed to realize an agreement reached with the group in 2016.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by