Industry and labor leaders yesterday both complained that the newly passed Mass Layoff Protection Law would not be as effective as expected and would cause employers unnecessary problems.
The relationship between workers and employers has been close in Taiwan, but the 60-day advance layoff notice would result in disputes between the two parties, said Day Sheng-tong (
Ho Yian-tang (何燕堂), director-general of the Committee for Action for Labor Legislation, said that the law was meant to merely add a feather in the cap of the President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration, but it was "not workable."
The new law, passed on Monday, is based on the draft proposals of the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) and DPP Legislator Lai Chin-lin (賴勁麟). The law affects some 2.26 million workers in companies of more than 30 people.
The law quantifies a "mass layoff" for companies with 30 to 500 employees as one-third of its employees within a 60-day period. For a company with more than 500 employees, a mass layoff is defined as one-fifth of its employees within a 60-day period.
Companies that intend to conduct a mass layoff will have to submit a plan to the CLA and the local government labor affairs departments 60 days in advance. Companies that fail to do so will be fined NT$100,000 to NT$500,000.
The law requires that the proposal lists the number of employees in question, reasons for, dates of, and affected departments, for the planned layoffs.
Ho, however, argued that the law failed to give the government the right to judge whether the reasons for any proposed mass layoffs were permissible, which is more important for workers than advance notification and negotiations.
From January to October last year, about 250,000 people, almost half of the 520,000 people now unemployed, lost their jobs because of their company's closure or restructuring. More than 2,000 workers are involved in disputes as a result of being laid off.
"Companies that decide to lay off employees usually face terrible difficulty.
"Shouldn't the government also pass legislation [concurrent with this law] to help these companies get through their difficulties?" said Chen Cheng-yi (陳正毅), spokesman for the General Chamber of Commerce (全國商總).
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS