The government is obligated to respond by the end of next month to a proposal that would make Taiwan the first Asian country to allow workers three days off per week, after the suggestion was endorsed by more than 5,700 people on the Public Policy Online Participation Network Platform.
Although Taiwan’s average work hours per year dropped to 2,000 hours in 2021, it still ranked the fourth-highest in the world, said a person identified only as Lukas, who proposed the policy change on the platform.
An experiment on a four-day work week in the UK, with 69 companies and more than 2,900 employees participating, showed that corporations’ revenue jumped an average of 35 percent during the trial period compared with a year earlier, while average worker turnover dropped to 57 percent, the proposal says.
Photo: Taipei Times
Moreover, 92 percent of the companies in the six-month trial opted to continue the practice after the experiment ended, it says.
As of April 26, the local proposal had been endorsed by 5,736 people, surpassing the required 5,000, and obligating the government to give a response by June 26, based on the rules of the platform.
Another proposal on the platform, by a person called Yenfei (煙緋), proposed amending Article 30 of the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) to limit work to six to seven hours per day and 30 to 35 hours per week. Overtime hours can also be included in the weekly work hours.
As of May 2, the proposal had been endorsed by 5,140 people, and the government has to respond by July 2.
“Most workers in Taiwan spend more than 12 hours at work, including time commuting to and from work, and overtime. Taiwanese workers are overworked compared with their peers in advanced countries,” the proposal says.
Shortening work hours would increase rest time for workers and reduce occupational hazards, traffic accidents and the spread of diseases, it says.
With reduced work hours, more young people would be willing to start a family, it says.
Huang Wei-chen (黃維琛), director of the Ministry of Labor’s Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment, said the ministry would have to discuss the issue first with the people who made the proposals to avoid any misunderstanding.
“We will assess how the policy change would affect different government agencies and provide an official response before the deadline,” Huang said.
A three days off a week policy would affect not only workers, but also teachers, civil servants, military personnel and students, Huang said.
“We need to consult the Ministry of Education about its opinion as well,” he said. “Shortening work hours would involve an amendment of the Labor Standards Act, and we need to consult business and labor groups and other government agencies.”
Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said that no Asian country has adopted a four-day work week, but the government would respond to the person who made the proposal and brief them about work hour trends.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
RSS