Legislative caucuses yesterday reached an agreement on reviewing a proposed amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) that seeks to cut seven national holidays.
After weeks of controversy and rounds of cross-caucus negotiations, the legislature yesterday reached a consensus on the handling of the disputed amendment involving the proposal for workers to have “one flexible rest day and one fixed day off,” and a reduction of national holidays from 19 to 12 to accommodate a 40-hour workweek that cleared the legislature in May last year.
The resolution stated that the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee amendment review on Oct. 5 would be retracted, a report by relevant agencies would be prepared and a question-and-answer session would be held on Monday next week, a public hearing on Wednesday next week and an article-by-article review of the amendment on Thursday next week.
Photo: Peter Lo
The meetings can be extended to midnight if needed, it said.
The resolution also prohibits any podium occupation attempts during the meetings and exempts the review conclusion, if sent to a cross-caucus negotiation, from the one-month negotiation period so that it can be dealt with at a floor meeting as soon as possible.
The legislative regulations stipulate that a bill be sent to the general assembly after a one-month negotiation period if the caucuses fail to reach a consensus during that time.
Photo: Peter Lo
The Oct. 5 review conclusion was made amid a chaotic scuffle among lawmakers in the committee, and opposition lawmakers said that the conclusion was made in violation of due procedure.
The caucuses agreed to reexamine recordings made on the day.
On Wednesday last week, four separate recordings of the meeting by the Legislative Yuan, the New Power Party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Eastern Broadcasting Co (EBC, 東森電視) were brought to the committee.
Only the EBC’s recording picked up a KMT lawmaker voicing dissent during the meeting.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that the examinations should be based solely on recordings by the Legislative Yuan.
Although the recording did not show any wrongdoing on the part of the committee chairperson, “the DPP agreed to make concessions [to review the bill] for the sake of conciliation and harmony between the ruling and opposition parties,” Ker said.
Separately yesterday, labor protesters signaled a possible compromise over the amendments, saying they would consider proposing an alternative set of “complementary measures” to proposed cuts in national holidays.
Workers’ Struggle Alliance member Kuo Kuan-chun (郭冠均) said civic groups would hold discussions on proposing their own set of amendments at an alternative hearing on the reforms to be hosted by the alliance on Tuesday next week.
“If the consensus is that the national holidays do not necessarily have to be preserved, we hope to come up with a set of complementary measures which fully protect labor rights, unlike the fake measures, proposed by the DPP,” he said.
Meanwhile, the protesters released Hsinchu Confederation of Trade Unions secretary-general Fan Yu-mei (范玉梅) from her promise to continue a hunger strike until she was hospitalized.
Her departure leaves Taiwan International Workers’ Association member Hsu Wei-tung (許惟棟) the sole remaining protestor of seven who began a hunger strike on Friday last week.
“Everyone wants to hold out, but they all face different circumstances,” said Kuo, citing family pressure, health concerns and an inability to take further days off from work.
Additional Reporting by CNA
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