The Ministry of Labor will not propose separate legislation to increase annual holidays as negotiations over amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) enter the final stretch, Minister of Labor Kuo Fong-yu (郭芳煜) said yesterday, while a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) proposal drew fire from opposition caucuses, who said it failed to specify increases.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has proposed annual leave increases for new workers to placate concerns over planned cuts to national holidays as part of reforms aimed at reducing regular working hours.
“This is not the time to propose another version, because cross-caucus negotiations have already begun and legislative caucuses are now the main actors,” Kuo said.
Photo: Lai Hsiao-tung, Taipei Times
The ministry did not make a mistake by not proposing increases to annual leave in its original bill, because the issue emerged as part of the legislative review process, he said.
“We chose not to bundle everything, because there are many aspects of the Labor Standards Act that need to be revised or reviewed, and the issues would not necessarily be resolved smoothly if everything was tackled at once,” he said, adding that the ministry would “respect” the decision of the legislative caucuses.
Cross-caucus negotiations over the amendments failed to reach a consensus yesterday, with opposition caucuses saying the DPP’s proposal failed to specify the number of days by which annual leave would be increased.
“If the DPP caucus has not arrived at its own consensus over annual leave, cross-caucus negotiations are meaningless,” KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Alicia Wang (王育敏) said after emerging from the talks.
New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said he was “extremely disappointed” with the DPP’s proposed language, comparing it to a “wordless book from heaven.”
If workers are to benefit, there should be some kind of guarantee system at the very least, including how new days off per year would be added and how people will be compensated if they can not use all of them,” Huang said.
There was progress on a cross-caucus agreement to handle controversial amendment provisions in the general legislative session, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said, adding that the DPP’s proposal did not include a specific number of days to be added because it prioritizes addressing substantial labor rights.
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