I was the labor representative at the Council of Labor Affairs’ (CLA) minimum wage review committee. Government representatives heavily dominated the whole review process, while labor, business and academic representatives merely played a supporting role. The nominal participation of labor and business representatives as a ploy to cover up the government’s complete domination of the process.
It appears as though the government has forgotten the Act to Implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (公民與政治權利國際公約) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (經濟社會文化權利國際公約施行法).
Article 7 of the latter clearly states that: “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favorable conditions of work which ensure, in particular: Remuneration which provides all workers, as a minimum, with: ... A decent living for themselves and their families in accordance with the provisions of the present Covenant.”
However, the wage hike failed to meet the goal of maintaining a decent living for all workers and their families. Obviously, it was a violation of the act. In addition, the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions’ calculation of the minimum per capita monthly consumption expenditures multiplied by the number of dependents was ignored.
A look at the process for reviewing the minimum wage shows that the CLA amended the Regulations for the Fixing of Basic Wages (基本工資審議辦法) late last year to increase the proportional representation of labor and business representatives. The amendment was then submitted to the Cabinet, which did not approve it until Aug 26. Then, on Sept. 7, the CLA confirmed the appointed labor and business representatives, and the first meeting was held on Sept. 13. The government’s haste is difficult to understand.
After the labor and business representatives expressed their stances at the first meeting, there was a 30-minute break, supposedly to allow the committee members to discuss the issue, but there was no time allotted for further negotiation.
After the break, CLA Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) closed further discussion by announcing the predetermined wage hike of 3.47 percent and submitted it to the Cabinet for approval, completely ignoring the opinions of the labor and business representatives. In no way can it be said that the decision was consensus-based as the Cabinet claimed, because there was no consensus reached.
The wage hike was based on the consumer price index growth rate of 4.47 percent, but that was adjusted to 3.47 percent after taking the unemployment rate into account. In its arbitrary willfulness, this utterly subjective decision completely ignored the view of the labor representatives.
The minimum wage has not been raised in three years. As a comparison, minimum wages in Japan and South Korea were increased by 3.78 and 18.1 percent respectively, over this period. Even China raised its minimum wage by 17 percent in the first quarter this year.
Having faced growing rent, housing and commodity prices over the past three years, Taiwanese workers are in a very difficult situation. For the 1.58 million workers at the bottom of the ladder who live on the minimum wage, the increase of NT$3 to their hourly wage or NT$600 to their monthly wage means absolutely nothing.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and his Cabinet members continuously claim that Taiwan’s economy is about to take off now that the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) has been signed. It seems the pockets of the general public and workers at the bottom of the ladder remain empty.
Lin Chin-yung is a managing board director of the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations