Despite repeated promises from the government that it would do everything it could to improve the lives of ordinary people, it seems to be doing just the opposite.
Official figures released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics show that as many as 1.68 million families in the nation have seen their incomes decrease over the past seven years, but the Ministry of Economic Affairs is nevertheless trying to halt a plan to raise minimum wage.
On the same day that the figures were released, Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Duh (杜紫軍) said that he had made a phone call to newly sworn-in Minister of Labor Chen Hsiung-wen (陳雄文), asking him to reconsider the plan to raise the minimum wage, and had received a positive response from Chen.
Apparently, Duh had made the phone call under tremendous pressure from the business sector, as business leaders who were invited to attend a meeting to discuss raising the minimum wage protested by refusing to appear. The Chinese National Federation of Industries also released a statement that strongly condemned the government for even considering to raise the minimum wage.
Duh said that he made the phone call because he had received many complaints from business and industry leaders, and agrees with them that the Ministry of Labor’s handling of the issue was inappropriate, adding that Chen agreed to show more “goodwill” to businesses.
While it is to be expected that businesses would try to lobby the government and lawmakers to maximize their profits, it is unacceptable to think that they might succeed in turning a policy decision around just by calling Duh and having him persuade Chen to change his mind, despite several promises by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to take good care of workers and the latest pledge by Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) to raise the minimum wage.
It might also remind people about how difficult it is for workers who have been laid off or are owed salaries or retirement payouts to ask for a meeting with officials or plead for help from the government.
Although labor authorities on central and local government levels have admitted that there were some administrative errors behind several labor disputes that triggered street protests in recent years, officials often insist that they were acting according to the law, and that, while they sympathize with workers, they could not make any exceptions.
Yet exceptions suddenly become possible when business and industry leaders want them.
When business leaders want to meet with officials, whether it is the president, the premier, ministers, or local government officials, meetings are quickly arranged; when business leaders ask for tax cuts, the government quickly arranges them; when business leaders express their desire for relaxed labor regulations, government officials come up with an idea that satisfies both their needs without breaking the law; and now, when business leaders are upset about the government’s plan to raise the minimum wage, they simply call the minister of economic affairs, who persuades the minister of labor to reconsider.
Businesses always argue that if the government grants them what they want, they would make more profit, in turn benefiting workers. However, history tells us that most of the promises from businesses are empty, as are those from government officials.
While the government’s favorable treatment of businesses might help them grow, businesses that rely so much on government policies are obviously not healthy and not truly competitive.
It is time for the government to honor its own words to the public, including workers, and let some businesses be eliminated through competition. Then those that survive would be truly competitive.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) challenges and ignores the international rules-based order by violating Taiwanese airspace using a high-flying drone: This incident is a multi-layered challenge, including a lawfare challenge against the First Island Chain, the US, and the world. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) defines lawfare as “controlling the enemy through the law or using the law to constrain the enemy.” Chen Yu-cheng (陳育正), an associate professor at the Graduate Institute of China Military Affairs Studies, at Taiwan’s Fu Hsing Kang College (National Defense University), argues the PLA uses lawfare to create a precedent and a new de facto legal
Chile has elected a new government that has the opportunity to take a fresh look at some key aspects of foreign economic policy, mainly a greater focus on Asia, including Taiwan. Still, in the great scheme of things, Chile is a small nation in Latin America, compared with giants such as Brazil and Mexico, or other major markets such as Colombia and Argentina. So why should Taiwan pay much attention to the new administration? Because the victory of Chilean president-elect Jose Antonio Kast, a right-of-center politician, can be seen as confirming that the continent is undergoing one of its periodic political shifts,
Taiwan’s long-term care system has fallen into a structural paradox. Staffing shortages have led to a situation in which almost 20 percent of the about 110,000 beds in the care system are vacant, but new patient admissions remain closed. Although the government’s “Long-term Care 3.0” program has increased subsidies and sought to integrate medical and elderly care systems, strict staff-to-patient ratios, a narrow labor pipeline and rising inflation-driven costs have left many small to medium-sized care centers struggling. With nearly 20,000 beds forced to remain empty as a consequence, the issue is not isolated management failures, but a far more
In the first year of his second term, US President Donald Trump continued to shake the foundations of the liberal international order to realize his “America first” policy. However, amid an atmosphere of uncertainty and unpredictability, the Trump administration brought some clarity to its policy toward Taiwan. As expected, bilateral trade emerged as a major priority for the new Trump administration. To secure a favorable trade deal with Taiwan, it adopted a two-pronged strategy: First, Trump accused Taiwan of “stealing” chip business from the US, indicating that if Taipei did not address Washington’s concerns in this strategic sector, it could revisit its Taiwan
RSS