Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday said that the Cabinet’s proposed amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基本法) would undergo “subtle adjustments” next week.
Ker made the announcement following a meeting of the DPP caucus during which Minister of Labor Lin Mei-chu (林美珠) briefed DPP lawmakers on the adjustments.
The adjustments were proposed after Premier William Lai (賴清德) met with DPP lawmakers twice this week to hear their opinions and considered the public’s attitude toward the amendment, he said, adding that the adjustments will focus on several “regulatory measures” and would “tighten the rules” in the draft amendment.
Photo: CNA
Draft regulations that would allow employers to legally make employees work up to 12 days in a row before granting them two days off and that would reduce the minimum rest time between shifts from 11 to 8 hours will not be implemented at employers’ discretion, but after only local authorities meet with sector associations and determine which sectors have “special needs” that warrant such work schedules, Ker said.
Local authorities are to publish a list specifying sectors that qualify, which will then be double-checked by the labor ministry, Ker said.
That means requests to implement more flexible labor rules will not be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, but by sector, he said, adding that granting workers one day off every seven days and at least 11 hours of rest between shifts would remain the norm.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Local governments are to announce which sectors are eligible for flexible schedules and individual employers in those sectors will then be allowed to start negotiations with unions or employeeswhose consent they first need to obtain, Ker said.
Employers are to specify under what circumstances and for how long they plan to implement flexible schedules, which are to be regularly reviewed by authorities and will be subject to change, he said.
Special circumstances under which the schedules could apply would include peak seasons, performance tours, large events and companies that are under pressure to fulfill orders within a limited time frame, Ker quoted Lin as saying.
One of the regulatory measures stipulates that, should any employers arbitrarily implement flexible schedules, employees could file complaints with local authorities, Ker said.
Asked if the caucus would clear the draft amendment through committee reviews next week, Ker said: “That is our hope.”
Separately yesterday, Lai said that the underlying principles of the draft amendment would remain unchanged, but called for the legal language to be drafted more precisely so that the public may understand the amendment better.
The draft amendment has gone through sufficient discussion and gained universal support among DPP members, he said, adding that it would grant employers and employees alike more flexibility, provided that labor rights are protected.
The premier on Thursday night on a political talk show rejected criticism that the amendment would “set labor rights back 100 years,” saying that the majority of workers will still have 12 hours of rest each day.
Total daily working hours will be capped at 12, he said, adding that it is “impossible” for a person to work for 16 hours and only rest for eight hours a day.
“In the worst-case scenario, workers will have at least 12 hours of rest,” Lai said, while conceding that some professions, such as nursing, might require special rules.
The biggest problem with the current “one fixed day off, one flexible rest day” policy is that it lacks flexibility, forcing 19 percent of workers to forgo opportunities to earn overtime pay and exposing them to increased competition from part-time workers and automated production lines, Lai said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai