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Workers protest against nation's population policy

A group of laborers staged a demonstration in front of the Ministry of the Interior on Father's Day yesterday to protest what they called the government's misguided population policy.

Scores of members of the Republic of China Grassroots Laborers and Parents Association chanted slogans and performed skits to display their dissatisfaction with the government's current population policy which they said places a heavy burden on them as fathers.

Pointing out that many working families in Taiwan face the problems of unemployment and high costs of educating their children, the protesters lashed out at the ministry's current population policy for encouraging couples to have more children at a time when many families have run out of resources to do so.

"The key point is that we must have resources to raise them before bringing them into this world," they stressed, demanding that the government raise the tax deduction limit for bearing children and offer free medical treatment for children.

They also demanded that the government offer financial support for children of unemployed parents.

The protesters urged the government to seek a remedy to the problems and reverse the current trend under which they said they are "afraid to have children, refuse to have children, or even regret having children."

An unfair distribution of social resources has led to an increase in the gap between the rich and poor, a situation that has put further pressure on working families, an association spokesman said.

According to a magazine survey, as many as 54 percent of fathers in Taiwan are most worried about not having enough money to raise their children, while 45 percent are most concerned about not having time to spend with their children.
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