Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka yesterday urged local governments to follow Premier William Lai’s (賴清德) direction to stop contracting brokers to hire contract workers within two years and instead allow all central agencies to directly recruit workers.
Speaking at a news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei, Kolas, who was inaugurated on Monday, said that local governments should join in the effort to better protect the rights of such workers.
Kolas on Wednesday announced Lai’s decision to roll out the policy in 2020 to better protect the rights and interests of government contract workers, who are usually employed in areas such as forestry management and protection, forest surveying, lab testing and experimentation, national park patrols and cultural site maintenance.
Photo: CNA
Eighty percent of government contract workers are under the direct supervision of government agencies, while the division of labor and assignment of responsibility are managed by government agencies and labor brokers, Kolas said.
Lai has decided that current contracts with agencies would not be renewed when they expire in two years, Kolas said.
Instead, the premier has instructed agencies to assemble their own recruitment teams, which are to hire contract workers and ensure their rights and interests in accordance with the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), she added.
Lai believes that the change would lead to a better working environment for contract workers, which is in line with President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) labor policy, Kolas said.
In the first quarter of this year, 7,238 government contract workers were hired through labor brokers, with the Council of Agriculture acquiring the largest share (2,638), followed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (845), the Ministry of Labor (754), the Ministry of Justice (712), the Ministry of Education (710) and the Ministry of Culture (305).
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
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
RSS