An amendment capping weekly work hours at 40 passed the legislature yesterday.
The amendment of the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) cleared to the cheers of lawmakers across party lines, who hailed it as “a victory for workers.”
The act stipulates that a worker is not to work more than eight hours a day or 84 hours every two weeks.
Starting from next year, workers will be under no obligation to work for more than 40 hours per week or eight hours per day, according to the amendment, which is regarded as the legal foundation for workers to get two days off per week.
There was also a revision that allows more flexibility to start and finish times. For employees starting or finishing within an hour of the scheduled times and where there is no change to the regular working hours, arrangements can be made depending on a worker’s needs or the needs of family members.
“Flexibility is conducive to a more friendly working environment and the enhancement of female workers’ participation in the workforce, as mothers could leave work earlier to take care of their children,” said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏), who proposed to include the clause in the amendment.
Taiwan has the third-highest legal working hours per year in the world, 2,124 hours, according to a report by the Ministry of Labor, higher than the average among developed countries, which all have yearly working hours limited to fewer than 2,000, KMT Legislator Chiang Hui-chen (江惠貞) said.
“We hope that with the legislation, we can shed the stigma of being an overworked island,” Chiang said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said the 40-Hour Week Convention was passed by the International Labour Organization as early as 1935 and has been followed for years by countries such as the US, Japan and South Korea.
“What we have done today is give workers what they deserve,” Chao said.
Ministry of Labor official Liu Chuan-min (劉傳名) said after the third reading of the amendment: “We hope that supporting measures and other revisions can also be established, and that continued communication with workers and enterprise representatives will be carried out to make sure that they adjust to the changes.”
“We also hope that the legislature could soon review other amendment proposals made by the Executive Yuan to support the 40-hour cap,” Liu added.
These include an increase of the monthly limit for overtime from 46 to 54 hours, Liu said.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS