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Group to launch petition for the nation’s jobless

“[People using meal coupons] would be required to accept job counseling while receiving the meal coupons.”

— Su Chen, convener of the Association of the Human Rights of the Jobless

A group promoting the rights of the unemployed will launch a 10,000-name petition drive later this month to call on the government to pay attention to their plight, a group official said on Saturday.

Su Chen (蘇諍), convener of the Association of the Human Rights of the Jobless, said the association began planning the petition after the government failed to address a proposal by the group to offer the jobless meal coupons.

A group of middle-aged and elderly jobless people went to the Presidential Office in the middle of last month to ask the government to establish an “eatery for the jobless” with its employment fund.

The Presidential Office turned their request over to the Council of Labor Affairs for deliberation.

Su said the idea of an “eatery” was aimed at feeding the unemployed until they land jobs so they would not be lured into crime by empty stomachs.

“To avoid abuse of the program, the association suggested that only those who have been without jobs for more than one year would be eligible and that they would be required to accept job counseling while receiving the meal coupons,” he said.

In a revised draft of the Employment Insurance Law (性別工作平等法) sent to the Executive Yuan, the council extended the subsidies for the jobless from six months to nine months, but Su said this was “unrealistic” in caring for the long-term jobless.

The association is planning to launch the 10,000-name petition drive on Sunday to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The association asked the government to compel school or private eateries to accept the proposed meal coupons for the jobless worth NT$50 each.

Su said the employment insurance fund amounts to about NT$100 billion (US$3.14 billion) and that it should be more than enough to sponsor the “eatery” program.

But the council said the program was more like “social aid” and would be more appropriately handled by social welfare agencies or organizations.
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