President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) once described the nation’s low birth rate as a national security crisis, but “educarers,” the front-line workers caring for the nation’s young, have not been treated fairly, lawmakers and the Alliance of Educare Trade Unions said yesterday.
Nurseries and kindergartens were merged into preschools under the Early Childhood Education and Care Act (幼兒教育及照顧法) last year to provide proper care and education to children aged two to six.
However, the alliance said in a statement that during the amendment process, it sought to secure the labor rights of the educarers, but was then dumbfounded to find that under the new act, preschools, without negotiations with the affected groups, have tacitly become units that are only asked to “voluntarily” apply the provisions of the Labor Insurance Act (勞工保險條例).
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said that before the enactment of the new act, all private nurseries were considered organizations operated for the public welfare and were automatically eligible for mandatory Labor Insurance coverage.
Even then, 19.7 percent of the nurseries did not have their employees covered, the alliance said.
“However, the new Act requires preschools to be registered as non-profit corporations with five or more employees before being eligible for mandatory Labor Insurance coverage,” Tuan said, adding that there are about 45,000 educarers in the nation, and only 3,100 of them, who work in public preschools, have mandatory coverage.
Apart from low wages and long hours, educarers are now deprived of mandatory coverage promised by the government, DPP Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) said.
“While paying a monthly salary of only NT$20,100, employers can avoid shouldering the NT$3,500 cost of Labor Insurance, Employment Insurance, Occupational Hazard Insurance and National Health Insurance under the existing regulations,” Wu said.
The financial burden is passed on to the government and educarers, who are now insured by their union if they are to be covered by Labor Insurance at all, Wu said. The government now has to pay 30 percent more than what it had to pay when the cost was split with their employer and the educarers 40 percent, Wu added.
Since 98 percent of educarers are female, the exclusion also means the birth subsidy funded by employment insurance — not insured by the occupational union — would be stripped from educarers who have children, Wu said.
Alliance of Educare Trade Unions director-general Wang Su-ying (王淑英) said that educarers have employers who should clearly bear the costs of insurance, rather than leaving that to their union.
In response, Council of Labor Affairs official Chen Hui-min (陳慧敏) yesterday said the council would consider requiring all preschools not yet registered as non-profit corporations to insure their employees under the Labor Insurance program and announce the resolution in a month.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS