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).
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
DIPLOMACY: It is Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo’s first visit to Taiwan since he took office last year, while Eswatini’s foreign minister is also paying a visit A delegation led by Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo arrived in Taiwan yesterday afternoon and is to visit President William Lai (賴清德) today. The delegation arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 4:55pm, and was greeted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). It is Arevalo’s first trip to Taiwan since he took office last year, and following the visit, he is to travel to Japan to celebrate the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Arevalo said at the airport that he is very glad to make the visit to Taiwan, adding that he brings an important message of responsibility
About 3,000 people gathered at events in Taipei yesterday for an annual candlelight vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, a brutal crackdown by Chinese authorities on a student-led demonstration in Beijing on June 4 36 years ago. A candlelight vigil organized by the New School for Democracy and other human rights groups began at 7pm on Democracy Boulevard outside Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, with the theme "Resist Transnational Repression, Defy Totalitarianism." At about 8pm, organizers announced that about 3,000 people had attended the event, which featured brief speeches by human rights advocates from Taiwan and China, including Hong Kong, as well
RSS