Facing strong protests from labor groups, government officials were busy yesterday defending the Executive Yuan's plan to revise the Labor Standards Law to impose a 44-hour workweek, in what would be a reversal of the legislature's decision to shorten the workweek to 84 hours in a two-week period.
President Chen Shui-bian (
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen stressed the importance of striking a balance between the two.
"Just like an airplane, it needs two balanced engines to fly effectively," Chen said.
Chen made the remark while receiving Father Neil Magill the Irish priest, who was deported from Taiwan in 1989 for promoting a labor rights movement.
But as Chen was apologizing to Magill for the "improper action" on behalf of the Taiwan government at yesterday's meeting, members of the Committee for Action for Labor Legislation (CALL,
Representatives from the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCTU,
On June 16, the legislature revised the Labor Standards Law to shorten the maximum working time to 84 hours in a two-week period -- from the current 48 hours per week, in what was considered a big boost for laborers. The measure was set to take effect Jan. 1.
The revision, according to analysts, had been proposed by the KMT, which controls the majority of legislative seats, in an attempt to outshine the DPP-led government's original plan to shorten the workweek to 44 hours. It was Chen's campaign promise to implement a 44-hour workweek in 2001 and further shorten it to 40 hours in 2002.
The Executive Yuan decided on Wednesday to submit another bill to the legislature to adjust the workweek to 44 hours, to moderate the burden of workweek changes on traditional industries.
Yesterday, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
"Over this period, however, we have seen the unemployment rate climbing. If industries cannot sustain themselves and workers begin to lose their jobs, this will be against our goal of protecting laborers' rights," Chang said.
Chen Chu (
"We hope to implement the policy moderately in several stages," Chen said.
Chen said she will not hesitate to step down if she fails workers.
Unconvinced by the official explanations, CALL Secretary-General Wuo Young-Ie (
Wuo said the Executive Yuan should have requested the legislature to reconsider the bill as soon as it was adopted if it had difficulties implementing it.
Wuo insisted that Chen is breaking his campaign promise that sets a 40-hour workweek as a goal, when he cannot even enforce the legislature's decision to shorten the maximum working time to 84 hours over a two-week period.
"Laborers will never accept this deception," Wuo said.
TCTU president Hwang Ching-hsien (
"While the government has been unable to put forth any measure to boost the economy, it is trying to reverse the workweek policy instead. We laborers can never accept that," Hwang said.
Leaders of the KMT, People First Party and New Party caucuses in the legislature reiterated yesterday that they would not support the Executive Yuan's plan to keep the workweek at 44 hours unless it was able to coordinate an agreement with labor groups.
Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Wang said if President Chen is to convince opposition lawmakers, he should openly respond to public doubt as to whether his promise to implement a 40-hour workweek in 2002 is still possible.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from