Tens of thousands of people from labor groups and workers’ unions are scheduled to rally in front of the Presidential Office today in two separate demonstrations to back appeals for workers’ rights and a fairer pension system.
Confederation of Taoyuan Trade Unions chairman Mao Chen-fei (毛振飛) said that about 25,000 people would meet in front of the Legislative Yuan at 2:30pm for the march he is leading.
“We demand the government push through productive reforms for the pension systems, allows for systematic increases in the minimum wage, implement a collective negotiation system, unify wages for domestic and foreign workers, and abolish the system of job responsibility,” Mao said.
More than 10,000 workers and representatives from eight workers’ unions, including the Chinese Federation of Labour and the Taiwan Federation of Labor, will stage a separate demonstration against President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government’s pension reforms.
A procession is scheduled to depart at 2pm from Liberty Square to Ketagalan Boulevard, where union representatives will give speeches about the closely watched reforms.
Meanwhile, healthcare providers yesterday accused the government of breaking its promises to healthcare workers.
The Taiwan Healthcare Reform Foundation, the Taiwan Medical Alliance for Labor Justice and Patient Safety (TMAL), the Taiwan Nurse Union and the Reform Team on Physicians’ Labor Conditions (RTPLC) told a press conference that the government had failed to allow intern and resident physicians to be covered by the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), to integrate nurse-to-patient ratios and healthcare providers’ work hours in hospital evaluation criteria, and to make the evaluation results transparent, all of which had been promised.
“More than 70 percent of the interns and residential physicians polled in a survey we conducted last year work more than 80 hours per week. Many of them even work 36 consecutive hours. This kind of overworking can result in medical malpractice,” RTPLC representative Chen Ping-hui (陳秉暉) said.
The survey also found the percentage of malpractice incidents and compromised healthcare quality was greater among doctors who work more than 80 hours a week than those who work fewer hours.
TMAL chairman Chong Chee-Fah (張志華) said doctors, most of whom are employees under the National Health Insurance system, have been pushing to be included under the Labor Standards Act for 15 years.
“Limiting resident physicians’ work hours would not just to improve physicians’ labor rights, but also benefit patients,” he said.
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
RSS