Members of 16 journalists’ unions yesterday rallied in front of the Executive Yuan to decry the delaying of the “one day off for every six days worked” policy stipulated in the Labor Standards Act (勞動基本法), accusing President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration of caving in to pressure from corporate-owned media outlets and treating journalists like “sweatshop workers.”
The demonstration was attended by union members working at the United Daily News, Central News Agency, Eastern Broadcasting Co, Next TV, Public Television Service Foundation and Radio Taiwan, among others.
Shouting slogans, the protesters accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of having taken a “hairpin turn” on its campaign promise to improve working conditions for journalists, who they said are often forced to work overtime by their employers.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Confederation of Taipei Trade Union director-general Chen Shu-lun (陳淑綸) said that in an effort to realize a five-day workweek in coordination with ongoing legislative efforts, Tsai’s administration had scheduled to implement the “one day off for every six days worked” policy on Monday.
Chen said the Ministry of Labor on June 29 nullified a 1986 judicial interpretation of Article 36 of the act, which has caused workers in media, transportation and tourism industries to sometimes work for 12 days in a row before they are allowed to take two days off.
However, citing the language used in the article, which it said was open to different interpretations, the Executive Yuan late on Saturday night announced that the implementation of the policy is to be delayed until October so that compelmentary measures can be put in place, Chen said.
“Without one day off for every six workdays, how can there be a five-day workweek?” Chen said.
“Have the owners of media outlets allocated additional workforce and money to pay overtime fees before October?” she asked.
Next TV Union director-general Cheng Yi-ping (鄭一平) said the Executive Yuan decided to postpone the implementation of the rule after executives from media outlets met with and apparently pressured Minister of Labor Kuo Fan-yu (郭芳煜) to put the rule on hold.
Cheng said that a phenomenon prevalent across all news formats is that the person who owns a media outlet controls its political stance, and this has provided the media with a means to force the government to bend to their will.
He said he is disappointed in Tsai, as her promise to reinstate a “normal” working environment for workers is at risk of failing a couple of months into her presidency.
“Thirty-three years after the rule was promulgated, it still has not been implemented,” he said.
Liberty Times Group Union member Loa Iok-sin (賴昱伸) said that executives at media outlets have cited the Olympic Games, which takes place over two weeks, and Tsai’s overseas visits, which are likely to last more than six days, as reasons that the rule should not apply to reporters, as it might hamper their work.
He called on the Executive Yuan and the ministry to initiate talks with journalists’ unions, adding that otherwise, any form of policymaking would be building employers’ pleasure upon reporters’ misery.
In a joint statement, the unions urged the ministry not to pander to employers in the decisions it makes over the next two months.
The prevalence of “real-time” news published through smartphones, coupled with employers’ policy to downsize their staff, have resulted in serious overtime for reporters, the unions said, adding that the ministry should bear in mind reporters’ mental and physical well-being and propose solutions.
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