The DPP's effort to have the legislature reverse its decision on workweek policy almost foundered yesterday after workers' representatives turned down the DPP's offer to negotiate.
"There is now only a 59-percent chance for the amendment to pass tomorrow," said a depressed Hsu Tain-tsair (
Just a day before, Hsu said he was optimistic that opposition lawmakers would support the Executive Yuan's bill to introduce a 44-hour workweek on Jan. 1, reversing a June 16 decision by the legislature to opt for a 84-hour-per-fortnight measure.
Opposition lawmakers have insisted that the DPP reach an agreement with workers on the 44-hour workweek as a condition for them to endorse the revised policy. Hsu had expected that such an agreement could be reached yesterday.
The DPP caucus had arranged a meeting with workers' representatives yesterday afternoon, but none of the representatives showed up.
"We have been staying in contact with labor unions, but the meeting couldn't be realized because there were different opinions from labor rights activists," Hsu said.
Ever since the Executive Yuan made clear its intention on Nov. 22 to reduce the workweek to 44 hours, 18 workers' groups have united together and formed an alliance to safeguard the 84-hour-per-fortnight measure.
The groups include the Chinese Federation of Labor (
Members of the alliance have staged numerous demonstrations protesting against the Executive Yuan's proposed amendment and have exerted intense pressure on lawmakers to stick to their original decision.
Yesterday morning, Hsu said that the Cabinet-level Council of Labor Affairs was ready to offer workers measures to improve their welfare in exchange for their concession on the workweek issue in the meeting scheduled for later in the day. According to Hsu, a consensus had been reached with the workers and a written agreement was likely to be signed at the meeting.
Those invited to the meeting were representatives from workers' unions, and the meeting was supposed to be kept secret.
"After the plan for the meeting was exposed to the public, some people came out to block it," Hsu said.
Leaders of the alliance, meanwhile, accused the DPP of destroying the basis of mutual trust for negotiations by spreading false information suggesting that the alliance had accepted the 44-hour workweek plan.
Lin Huei-kwung (
"Even before we met, the DPP had spread news saying we were ready to sign. This is a move that disgraces us," Lin said.
Hwang Ching-hsien (黃清賢), president of the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions, said the alliance has closed the door to negotiating with the DPP because workers have lost faith in the ruling party.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS