Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) yesterday decided that beginning next year, the minimum wage will be contingent on growth in the consumer price index (CPI), a policy drawing severe criticism from labor groups.
With a threshold of a cumulative CPI growth of 3 percent or higher needed before the minimum wage will be reviewed, “it is highly likely that the basic wage levels will remain stagnant in the remaining three years of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) tenure,” Taiwan Labor Front secretary-general Son Yu-lian (孫友聯) said.
The Executive Yuan issued a press statement yesterday saying Jiang has given the green light to the proposed rises in hourly and monthly minimum wages, along with a policy to tie adjustments to minimum wages to CPI growth, presented by the Council of Labor Affairs last month.
Photo: CNA
Under the proposal, the minimum hourly wage will be raised from NT$109 to NT$115, starting Jan. 1 next year, while the minimum monthly wage, which is now NT$19,047, will be increased to NT$19,273, effective July 1 next year.
The Executive Yuan has assessed that more than 1.76 million workers paid monthly, including 240,000 migrant workers, and more than 310,000 hourly workers will benefit from the wage adjustment.
Meanwhile, beginning next year, the council’s Minimum Wage Review Committee, which holds an annual review on minimum wages, will be held only when CPI increases by 3 percent or higher, according to the proposal.
In the press statement, the Executive Yuan said that the council’s proposal was adopted by Jiang because consensus was reached among representatives of labor groups, businesses, academics and officials at the council’s committee.
Son disputed the Executive Yuan’s claim, saying labor groups have repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of reviewing the minimum wage only after the growth rate of CPI surpasses 3 percent.
It is a violation of Article 5 of the Regulations for the Deliberation of Basic Wage (基本工資審議辦法) that “the minimum wage review committee should on principle convene in the third quarter of every year to review wages,” Son said.
The rule gives the committee flexibility about when during the year it meets to consider the minimum wage, but it prescribes that it “must convene every year” to review whether adjustments should be made to the basic salary levels, he added.
Scrapping the rule unilaterally is “detrimental to Taiwan’s employment standards” and was “aimed at pleasing conglomerates,” Son said.
Furthermore, according to Article 4 of the Regulations for the Deliberation of Basic Wage, CPI was just one of the seven elements to be factored in when the committee reviews the minimum wages, Son said.
The article stipulated that the committee must also study conditions of national economic development, wholesale price index, national income and average individual income, labor productivity of different industries and their employment situation, workers’ wages in different industries, and statistical figures on household income and expenditure, in addition to the retail price index.
The council said last month that normally, 3 percent or higher CPI growth takes two years.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS