More than 10,000 workers from across the country marched on the streets of Taipei to voice their anger at the increasing trend of temporary hiring and the exclusion of labor issues in talks for an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) the government plans to sign with China.
“No to temporary hiring! Defend the independence of unions! Include labor issues in ECFA talks!” were slogans shouted by thousands of workers as they marched on the streets of Taipei toward the Executive Yuan.
“Temporary hiring is an exploitation of workers that’s becoming more and more popular among private companies, as well as government authorities,” Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions secretary-general Hsieh Chuang-chih (謝創智) told the crowd. “The government should take up its responsibility to protect workers’ rights. It should start by banning temporary hiring at government agencies.”
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Workers hired on a temporary basis are those who are affiliated with temporary employment agencies and are assigned work if a private or government organization asks for them. Since employers do not have to pay benefits for temporary workers, it has become a popular way to hire because it can help to cut costs.
However, it means less job stability for workers. Instead of trying to ban temporary hires, the government seems to want to give it a legal basis, Taiwan Labor Front secretary-general Son Yu-lian (孫友聯) said.
“The Council of Labor Affairs is drafting amendments to the Labor Standards Act [勞動基準法] to ban temporary hiring from eight industries,” Son said. “So that means temporary hire would be allowed in all industries other than the eight listed in the law.”
PHOTO: CNA
Taoyuan County Confederation of Trade Unions chairman Wu Chung-hsin (吳忠信), called on the government to include labor issues in negotiations on ECFA with China.
Hsieh also expressed this view.
“Both President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] and Chinese president Hu Jintao [胡錦濤] have stressed the benefits of an ECFA for businesses. This shows that an ECFA is aimed at serving only the capitalists,” Hsieh said. “Any type of free trade agreement, including an ECFA, would bring severe unemployment and lower conditions for workers.”
PHOTO: CNA
Facing angry workers, Minister Without Portfolio James Hsueh (薛承泰) promised on behalf of Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) that the government would look into the workers’ demands carefully and come up with solutions. However, protesters yelled “liar” and “you said that last year!” when Hsueh spoke to them.
The demonstration ended peacefully after protesters vented their anger by throwing mud at pictures of the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan. At a separate setting yesterday, when asked to comment on the demonstration, the premier said he had asked government agencies to deal with the issues seriously, adding that the government and labor groups shared the same values in strengthening the functions of trade unions and protecting the rights and interests of laborers.
Wu said the system has been in place for six or seven years, when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was in power. However, the number of foreign laborers declined in the last two years since the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) took power, down from the peak during the DPP government, he said.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
In related news, DPP legislators Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) and Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) told a press conference yesterday that more than 70 percent of employees at the CLA’s Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training were contract workers, whom they described as “disposable items.”
The contract workers at the bureau help unemployed people find jobs, but those workers are about to lose their jobs, the lawmakers said, calling on the government to review its streamlining policy.
The bureau said its contract workers were not “disposable” and that most were able to continue working after the projects for which they were initially hired are completed.
Lin San-quei (林三貴), director-general of the bureau, said they mainly outsourced jobs that ran on a continual basis, such as vocational training and employment assistance. Successful bidders for those projects were often the Chinese National Federation of Industries, the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions or the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan and CNA
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
RSS