More than 3,000 people participated in a march hosted by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday in Taipei supporting labor rights and opposing workplace bullying.
During the march, which started in front of the Ministry of Labor building and ended on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building, TPP lawmakers and party secretary-general Chou Yu-hsiu (周榆修) took turns saying the party supports anti-bullying legislation, the establishment of unions for police and firefighters, and has enacted laws to protect whistleblowers.
They also invited participants to write a letter and insert it into a box labelled “charity,” and said that they hoped the president would be charitable and heed workers’ demands for justice and protection.
Photo: CNA
Although former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said she had a soft spot for workers, she had removed seven national holidays, TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said, adding that President William Lai (賴清德), who implemented that policy as then-premier, had not protected the workers, and now a life has been lost due to bullying during his presidency.
Huang was referring to the death of a 39-year-old ministry employee surnamed Wu (吳), who was found dead at the Executive Yuan’s Sinjhuang Joint Office Tower in New Taipei City on Nov. 4. Wu had allegedly taken his own life after being bullied by his supervisor.
TPP Legislator Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) said Lai and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) failed to deliver on their promise of justice.
“The TPP will wait no longer,” Chang said, adding that the party would propose anti-bullying legislation over the next week.
The proposed legislation would include clauses requiring that more than half of any review committee for bullying incidents be comprised of non-departmental staff or third-party members, he said.
Citing a report by the legislature’s Budget Center, National Civil Servant Association president Kao Shih-nan (高誓男) said that last year, 11 public servants committed suicide and 1,300 left their jobs, which were 120 percent and 122 percent higher than figures in 2022.
Kao attributed the increase in suicides and quitting to the inequality between public servants and their superiors, antiquated laws, and outdated methods of management.
He also urged the government to enact legislation to end bullying, improve labor safety laws, allow public servants to unionize, improve work hours and overtime systems, and change retirement laws.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
COMMUNITY SPIRIT: As authorities were busy with post-typhoon cleanups elsewhere, residents cleaned fallen leaves and cut small fallen trees blocking the hiking trails All hiking trails damaged by Typhoon Kong-rey have been repaired and has reopened for people who want a refreshing hike in Taipei during the Lunar New Year holiday, a city official said. The Taipei Basin is known for its easily accessible hiking trails. It has more than 130 trails combined into the 92km-long Taipei Grand Trail, which was divided into seven major routes when it was launched by the Taipei City Government in 2018. Last year, a part of the sixth route of the Grand Trail collapsed due to Typhoon Kong-rey, which hit Taiwan in October. The damaged section belongs to one
RSS