Following a recent string of mass protests, Taipei is set to be the scene of another huge demonstration tomorrow being organized in observance of International Workers’ Day and to demand that the government address the problem of low wages and scrap the dispatch worker system.
Tens of thousands of workers from around the nation are expected to hit the streets to attend a rally being organized under the theme of “opposing low wages and banning dispatching of workers” by dozens of labor groups, industrial unions and labor union federations.
During the protest, a march is to be led by a squad of atypical workers to highlight one of the organizers’ main appeals for the government to draft legislation prohibiting the use of dispatched workers, Taipei City Confederation of Trade Unions secretary-general Chiang Wan-chin (蔣萬金) said yesterday.
Chiang, who is to be in charge of the protest, said the government has paid no attention to the deterioration of wages and working conditions affecting many employees across most sectors nationwide, while the rapid increase in the number of dispatched workers and those employed for limited terms has exacerbated the stagnant salary problem.
Since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office, the unemployment rate among those aged 20 to 24 has risen to 13.75 percent, the second-highest level in the nation’s history, while the unemployment rate for college graduates consistently stands above 5 percent.
Despite the persistently high rate of youth unemployment, sources say that the government is planning to relax labor rules in an attempt to encourage children of overseas ethnic Chinese — defined as Chinese born abroad and studying at Taiwanese colleges and known commonly as qiaosheng (僑生) — and other foreign college students in Taiwan to stay and work in the country after graduating.
Currently the average monthly salary for qiaosheng and other foreign students who remain in Taiwan to work after finishing their studies must be least NT$37,619 and they are not required to have two years’ work experience to be employed in Taiwan.
Before these rules were adopted in June 2012, qiaosheng and other foreign students could only take a job with a starting salary of NT$47,971 and had to have least two years of work experience to be eligible to stay in Taiwan after graduating.
Sources have said that the Ministry of Labor Affairs is mulling removing the salary threshold and implementing the policy in June to benefit fresh graduates.
However, analysts say the rumored policy would have a crowding-out effect on Taiwanese youth by pushing down new graduates’ average monthly wages, which are already as low as NT$22,000, and could be a prelude to opening up the labor market fully to Chinese students in Taiwan, analysts had said.
According to the ministry, about 5,000 qiaosheng and other foreign students enroll at colleges or universities in Taiwan every year. After the rules on their employment were relaxed in 2012, about 1,274 of these students stayed in the nation after graduating, 36 percent of which came from Malaysia, 10 percent from Indonesia, 5 percent from the US and 3 percent from Japan, it added.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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