The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus gave up its initial plan to block the government from recruiting immigrant laborers, following Huapan Co's decision to reduce its compensation claim from Thai laborers to NT$1.
The KMT caucus had said earlier yesterday that it would pass laws to ban the recruitment of immigrant laborers should the government fail to resolve the lawsuit Huapan Co filed against the Thai laborers within three months.
However, after Huapan Co announced later yesterday that it would reduce be reducing its compensation claim from NT$19.67 million (US$596,060) to NT$1, KMT Legislator Tsao Erh-chang (曹爾忠) said that it would not implement the ban.
"We have no complaints if the compensation is only NT$1. However, [whether it was proper to sue the laborers] is a matter of right or wrong rather than just a problem with the amount of compensation," Tsao said, saying Huapan is not a legal brokerage firm.
The KMT caucus yesterday hosted a forum and asked Deputy Minister of the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Su Li-chiung (
Taking into consideration the potential impact of any ban on industry, Su told KMT lawmakers that the council would fully assist the laborers with their litigation.
"While the case is going through the judicial process, exerting pressure on Huapan Co through the government's `administrative power' is one possible avenue by which to demand it give up the lawsuit," Su said in the forum.
During the forum a number of KMT lawmakers criticized the officials for not providing enough assistance to the Thai laborers.
"It is so embarrassing that such vicious maltreatment of these people, who were working as virtual slave laborers, is happening in Taiwan," KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-min (
Shuai added, "If the CLA had accused Huapan Co of labor abuses when the Thai laborers staged a riot against the company's poor treatment last August, would the company have had the chance to sue the laborers today?"
KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (
"How dare the company ask the Thai laborers to pay NT$19.67 million compensation, which is nearly NT$8 million more than the figure of NT$12 million it gave for losses after the riot," Lai said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai