After more than an hour, the council’s senior counselor, Lin Jenn-yeu (林振裕), came out to address the protesters.
“The council will call a meeting with local government officials to discuss the establishment of a system for businesses to report unpaid leave,” Lin said.
The council would also hold meetings soon to discuss how to make adjustments to businesses quotas for foreign labor, he said.
The protesters were not satisfied with this response and smashed glass panels on the ground to symbolize the council crushing their hopes.
Before they left, the protesters vowed to demonstrate again at the Presidential Office during the Lunar New Year if their demands were not met.
Meanwhile, official statistics released on Monday showed that more workers — especially those in the photonic, semiconductor and computer manufacturing industries — had been forced by their employers to take unpaid leave last month.
The statistics, compiled by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS), showed that as a result of the practice, 741,000 people worked less than 35 hours per week last month, an increase of 205,000 over October’s total.
DGBAS official Huang Chien-chung (黃建中) said that the mandatory unpaid leave plans being implemented by the high-tech sector were expected to increase and lead to a further decline in the nation’s already contracting wages.
Previous statistics from the DGBAS showed that Taiwan recorded nominal wage growth of minus 0.27 in October — the third negative monthly growth rate in a row.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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