Working as an employee for a big company used to be an impossible dream for Chen Zi-rong (
Thanks to the latest efforts of the Taipei City Labor Affairs Bureau to develop partnerships with private firms, however, the mildly mentally impaired Chen is now a full-time administrative assistant at China Trust Commercial Bank.
"Life is not perfect, so we need to work harder. As long as we continue to exert ourselves, people will recognize our efforts," she said yesterday during a press conference to promote the employment rights of the disabled at Taipei City Hall.
Chen was one of more than 30 disabled people recruited by 10 top private firms this year. Most of these companies used to disregard regulations and were reluctant to recruit the disabled.
The Handicapped Protection Law (
Of the 2,466 government bodies and private corporations required to recruit disadvantaged people, more than 25 percent have not complied. The bureau also found that many of these companies would rather pay the fines than abide by the law.
Prominent firms such as Taipei Fubon Bank, Taishin International Bank, Adecco, Chinatrust Commercial Bank, HSBC and Cathay General Hospital were named in a blacklist published by the bureau in January for not following the regulations.
In an effort to resolve the issue, the bureau reached out to businesses, providing assistance that included job-placement services to encourage more firms to embrace disabled workers.
"We would encourage companies to recruit people with disabilities by establishing massage centers. Most of them welcome this suggestion because the idea of hiring the disabled as a masseur is acceptable," bureau secretary Tsai Shu-chen (
The companies that have embraced the disabled, Tsai said, understood the employees abilities and limitations and would often go on to explore more opportunities for them.
"It was never our intention to turn down the disabled. We just don't know what kind of jobs they could do," HSBC vice president Dorothy Tao (
"It's also difficult for us to find them," she said.
Through the job-matching service provided by the bureau's sheltered workshops for the disabled, HSBC now employs 12 disabled people, working as administrative assistants or masseurs.
As a receptionist for HSBC, Hung Wei-jie (
Tsai said the bureau continued to provide the disabled with professional training in sheltered workshops, but he hoped that ultimately they could work like anyone else.
Interested employers and handicapped persons can visit the labor affairs bureau's Web site at www.bola.taipei.gov.tw.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner