Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) officials were left embarrassed at the legislature yesterday when none of them could provide a clear answer to lawmakers’ questions on which industries and workers would be affected by the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).
CLA Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) and other council officials came under fire during the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee meeting when lawmakers fired questions at her about recent events.
Wang and other officials yesterday tried to downplay the Kaohsiung City Government’s refusal to make service staff at its employment center memorize government ECFA promotional material designed to enable them to better answer questions such as whether the signing of an ECFA will cause unemployment to rise.
However, when Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) asked council officials to raise their hand if they knew what effects the ECFA would have on the nation’s various industries and workforce, no hands went up.
“What gives the CLA the right to order employment center service staff to memorize material about the ECFA if CLA officials themselves don’t even know it?” Liu asked.
DPP Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) also criticized the council for promoting the ECFA at a time when there is still no consensus over the signing of the agreement.
“Workers who visit the employment centers are looking for [a job that puts] food on the table. You can’t just paint them a picture of a bowl of rice,” she said.
In defense of the council’s policies, Wang said that the council was not seeking to further its own interests or to pick a fight with the Kaohsiung City Government, but to ensure workers understand how signing the ECFA could potentially impact them.
“As civil servants they [employment center staff] are responsible for informing workers about how the government is preparing to help them to deal with the potential adverse effects of free trade,” she said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
RSS