More than a dozen representatives of nursing unions yesterday held a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taipei to protest an amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) that reduces the minimum rest time between shifts to eight hours in exceptional circumstances.
Article 34 of the amended act stipulates that the minimum rest time between shifts can be reduced to eight hours, but must be agreed through labor-management negotiations, approved by the central competent authority and passed by the Ministry or Labor.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare, as the authority, earlier this month released a statement saying that the minimum rest time could only be reduced to eight hours when major disasters, emergencies or serious epidemics occur, and must be negotiated through a labor-management meeting.
The ministry yesterday morning held a meeting with medical associations to discuss the provisions of the article.
Before the meeting began, demonstrators outside chanted “the minimum rest time between shifts should be at least 11 hours to avoid death from overwork” while holding a white banner that read “the ministry should not be an accomplice of ‘blood-and-sweat working conditions.’”
Articles 32 and 40 of the act could already have been used to deal with special conditions, so amending Article 34 could allow hospitals to make “exceptional” conditions the routine, Chiayi Christian Hospital Labor Union deputy chairman Wu Wen-an (巫文安) said.
Not allowing healthcare practitioners get enough rest does not help in emergencies, because they might make more mistakes due to fatigue, he said, adding that it would also lead to personnel shortages in other shifts, so recruiting enough workers would be the solution.
The 11 hours of rest principle remains — the only exceptional situations are natural disasters, outbreaks of serious diseases and emergency rescue, Department of Nursing and Healthcare Director-General Tsai Shu-feng (蔡淑鳳) said.
The meeting was held to clarify the principle and the three exceptions to the associations, Tsai added.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
RSS