The Ministry of Labor yesterday named more industries in which employees can work for up to 12 consecutive days under special circumstances, including the media, marine shipping and slaughter industries.
Under Article 36 of the new Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), which took effect in March, in certain industries, employees’ maximum consecutive work days can be extended from six to 12 under special circumstances, if the company union agrees to the arrangement; in cases where there are no unions, companies should obtain their employees’ consent.
Earlier this year, the ministry announced 12 industries to which the article would apply, including the manufacturing and travel industries.
Yesterday it announced more, effective immediately, including news and magazine publishers, as well as TV and radio broadcasters, which are allowed to extend consecutive work days for staff covering news abroad.
Also included are marine shipping companies and cargo warehouse operators, which can extend their consecutive work days based on weather conditions and logistical needs.
Meanwhile, the slaughter industry is allowed to extend consecutive work days to meet disease control or supply chain management needs.
Companies with 30 or more employees are required to inform the local labor department when making such arrangements. Employers that fail to report, or to obtain consent of the union or employees, could be fined NT$20,000 to NT$1 million (US$653 to US$32,648).
By adding more industries to the list, the ministry has clearly chosen to side with employers, completely ignoring the voices of workers, the Taiwan Media Workers Union said in a statement.
Covering news abroad is extremely stressful for media professionals, but instead of considering their needs in such “special circumstances,” the ministry has focused on their employers’ needs, it said.
Under the Labor Standards Act, employers must pay their staff 1.59 times their usual wages on the sixth consecutive day they work, and double the amount and offer an additional day off if they are made to work a seventh consecutive day, it said.
Due to the article, employees in industries on the list are deprived of additional pay, as employers are allowed to simply reschedule their weekly days off at a later time, the union added.
It urged unions across the nation to be cautious when negotiating with employers about extending the number consecutive work days and to report any labor law violations to local labor departments to protect employees’ rights.
“We must not allow employers to take advantage of this rule and exploit workers as they please,” the union added.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods