The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday rejected the possibility of working with the New Power Party (NPP) over proposed amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), with DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) denouncing a sit-in protest by NPP lawmakers as an “irrational boycott” of the legislation.
Ker criticized the NPP for its “lack of sincerity” as a hunger strike launched in front of the Presidential Office Building by NPP lawmakers demanding the amendment’s withdrawal continued into its third day.
The hunger strike and a failed attempt on Friday by NPP lawmakers to occupy the legislative chamber to forestall an extraordinary legislative session were “irrational and unwarranted actions to gain the limelight,” Ker said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Asked about the possibility of the DPP working with the NPP over the legislation, Ker said: “There is not even room for negotiations.”
Ker, who posted online an editorial by the Chinese-language China Times criticizing the NPP’s actions and saying that the momentum of “the Sunflower movement has collapsed,” said the NPP’s demand that the amendment be retracted was improbable.
The NPP did not propose an amendment as a proper legislative strategy, but has instead engaged in disruptive strategies, he said.
“Although the NPP was vocally critical about the ‘one fixed day off and one flexible rest day’ policy during the last revision of the act [in 2015], they now say that no changes should be made,” Ker said, adding that about 60 percent of respondents to opinion polls support the idea of revising the policy.
“There is no possibility of communication and cooperation without [the NPP being] reasonable. Can mere confrontation result in cooperation? There cannot be cooperation unless [the NPP] returns to reasonable dialogue,” Ker said.
DPP caucus chief executive Liu Chao-hao (劉櫂豪) also said his party has “no communication channels” with the NPP and urged the latter to return to the negotiation table.
DPP lawmakers have since Friday been guarding the legislative chamber’s entrance to guarantee that today’s legislative session is not interrupted.
DPP lawmakers would make sure that the party’s proposed amendments are on top of the legislative agenda and would prevent opposition parties from flooding the session with motions, Liu said.
Meanwhile, Minister Without Portfolio Chang Ching-sen (張景森) commented on a Facebook post by human rights lawyer Chen Meng-hsiu (陳孟秀), who criticized what he said was a disproportionate police presence and security barriers around the NPP sit-in.
Chang asked whether party assistants were being overworked because of NPP lawmakers’ actions, and how much rest and overtime pay they would receive.
“If [NPP Executive Chairman] Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) could not [allow party employees a proper rest], many small and medium-sized enterprises could not do so either, suggesting that workplace flexibility is necessary. Otherwise, small and medium-sized enterprises, such as the NPP, cannot function or even survive,” Chang wrote.
“[We] have negotiated with the NPP for a long time. Their political strategy is to divide DPP supporters with radical policies. Further negotiations will not yield a different result,” he wrote.
All NPP assistants meet the requirements for the labor act, NPP Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said.
The NPP also gives assistants seven annual leave days, which is better than what is required by the act, Hsu said.
Police allowed only legislators’ assistants to enter the restricted area, Hsu added.
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS