Labor rights groups and unions yesterday blasted the Ministry of Labor’s proposed reforms to Article 28 of the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), saying that the measures fail to adequately protect the rights of workers of liquidated or bankrupt companies.
The proposed reforms were made in response to several labor movements aimed at helping workers from bankrupt firms reclaim their unpaid pensions, including the recently resolved Hualon Corp case, in which retired workers said they were owed NT$ 1 million each by the textiles manufacturer.
Article 28 currently only provides compensation for unpaid wages through a special government fund made up of mandatory deposits by employers, but it does not cover compensation for unpaid pensions and severance packages.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The ministry’s draft amendment proposes covering unpaid pensions equivalent to up to six months of a worker’s salary, but labor groups say the fund should provide for full compensation.
Taoyuan County Confederation of Trade Unions secretary-general Wang Hao (王浩) said that the government should help workers by acting as creditors to bankrupt companies.
“Compared with underprivileged workers, the government is better equipped to use its public authority to conduct negotiations with the companies,” Wang said.
Hualon Self-Help Organization secretary Hsu Jen-yuan (徐任遠) said that reforms should be carried out thoroughly if they are to have a meaningful effect.
“If we don’t want to see a second or third reenactment of the Hualon incident, the government should guarantee that workers receive 100 percent of their pensions,” Hsu said.
Under the national pension system used prior to 2005 — before new regulations requiring employers to shoulder the allocation and payment of 6 percent of a worker’s monthly salary as pension — workers were entitled to receive pensions equivalent to 45 months of their base salary.
Although the ministry’s draft amendment would also stipulate that debt repayment to employees should receive the same priority as repayment to banks, labor activists said the measure would do little to help workers.
“Even if workers receive priority in debt repayment, it might take years for the companies to repay them,” Wang said. “However, pensions and wages are crucial to workers’ livelihoods.”
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all