The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus is today to propose a revision to the Cabinet’s latest draft amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) to clearly define preconditions that would allow employees in some industries to be exempt from requiring a minimum of 11 hours of rest between shifts.
The draft amendment would allow certain industries to lower the minimum rest time between shifts from 11 hours to eight hours, given that it is approved by the relevant authorities and the Ministry of Labor.
The DPP’s proposed revision would lay down a screening mechanism to ensure that the industries that are given the rest time exemption are indeed those with staffing difficulties, DPP caucus secretary-general Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純) said yesterday.
Industries that require the services of specially trained professionals, or those that have to meet special staffing needs because of issues such as seasonal fluctuation, might be relieved of the obligation to ensure 11 hours of rest between shifts, she said.
The ministry, when approving the exemption, must clearly describe why that industry should be approved, Ho said, adding that industries which do not meet the preconditions would not be exempt even if they are short-staffed.
The DPP caucus began drafting the revision after negotiations with Premier William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday and Thursday as some DPP lawmakers had reservations about the draft amendment, she said, adding that the caucus will not make changes to the amendment’s proposal to raise the maximum number of consecutive working days from six to 12.
Minister of Labor Lin Mei-chu (林美珠) on Friday met with the DPP caucus to seek its endorsement of the amendment.
She offered to establish a screening mechanism to evaluate which industries would be allowed to increase their maximum consecutive working days, local media reports said.
She proposed that instead of allowing individual businesses to seek permission, the ministry would conduct an industry-wide evaluation with the relevant authorities.
The ministry would then announce industry-specific conditions and deadlines for the industries that get approval, she said.
The DPP caucus might adopt some of Lin’s proposals in its revision of the shift regulations, but the decision would not be finalized until today, Ho said.
Separately yesterday, Sunflower movement leader Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) drew a parallel between the DPP government and former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, which signed a controversial cross-strait service trade deal with China in 2013 that sparked the Sunflower movement.
“The fuss surrounding draft amendments to the Labor Standards Act has been going on for more than two weeks. With the DPP caucus scheduled to review and railroad the amendments through the legislative committee review next Monday [today], the air is filled with a sense of powerlessness,” he said.
Chen said he and movement participants felt a similar sentiment when they occupied the Legislative Yuan in 2014, urging people who are fed up with the DPP to take their frustration to the street and join protests planned outside the legislature today.
Additional reporting by Stacy Hsu
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS