Lawmakers across party lines yesterday vowed to block any effort to replace the monthly minimum wage with an hourly formula as suggested by the employment panel of the Economic Development Advisory Conference.
The DPP's legislative caucus slammed the proposed measure as a thinly disguised attempt by corporate interests to exploit labor and regretted what they called "the forfeiture of discretion" by Cabinet officials during conference.
Cabinet-level Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊) has proposed replacing the monthly minimum wage guarantee with an hourly formula under which employers do not have to pay their workers for their days off.
Under the principle of "no work, no pay," Chen has said the proposed measure will not undercut workers' benefits and would help bring down an unemployment rate that stood at 4.5 percent as of June, the highest in 15 years.
"That's utter sophistry," said DPP legislative leader Lin Feng-hsi (林豐喜), referring to the rationale behind the panel's brainchild. "It's just not right for the government to seek to heal the economy by sacrificing the welfare of the employed."
Lin said would make his opinions known during a meeting of the nine-member policy-making task force headed by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) later yesterday.
Fellow lawmaker Chien Hsi-chieh agreed, noting that international labor law guarantees workers one day off every week.
"By introducing an hourly pay system, the country would go against the global trend," Chien said, accusing labor officials of siding with the industrialists. Many in the business sector say that the burden incurred by the reduction of the workweek to 84 hours every two weeks from 48 hours per week needs to be re-examined.
DPP legislative whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said no member of the ruling caucus would back the planned legal revision should the panel decide to recommend the finding to the full meeting of the economic conference next week.
President Chen has made revitalizing the economy his top priority after a year of maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait. To that end, the Presidential Office has organizes a series of economic talks, drawing 200-plus participants from different sectors, to prescribe remedies for the ailing economy.
The main opposition KMT said its legislative caucus would obstruct any proposal that would "further slant the distribution of wealth among the people."
"By floating the hourly pay scheme, the government runs the risk of reviving a debate over the workweek that antagonized the executive and legislative branches for a long time last year," KMT legislative leader Lee Cheng-chung (李正宗) said. "The KMT caucus will try its best to defeat any bill designed to discount workers' interests."
Lee warned President Chen not to turn his back on the working class, noting he owed his "ascendancy to the throne" to its support last year.
Workers who enjoy a two-day weekend fear that the statutory amendment may allow their employers to cut their wages by 30 percent and many have threatened to mount a revolt against the DPP in the year-end elections.
RSS