The Executive Yuan yesterday said that there is “currently no need” to reinstate seven public holidays that were scrapped in 2016, following calls by labor groups for their restoration.
“The seven public holidays were abolished under the prerequisite that workers would have more weekly days off following first-phase amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法),” Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said in a statement, referring to amendments to the act passed in December 2016 that introduced a five-day workweek.
Cutting the holidays ensured that public and private-sector workers have the same number of holidays, she said.
There is “currently no need to discuss reinstating the seven public holidays” and “no need to reinstate them,” she added.
The Cabinet issued the statement after about 50 protesters from more than 20 labor groups and unions rallied outside its complex on Taipei’s Zhongxiao E Road demanding to know its plan for reinstating the holidays.
“We feel mistreated, because keeping the seven public holidays was a campaign pledge of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), but her administration cut them as soon as she took office,” Kaohsiung Petrochemical Industry Trade Union president Ho Cheng-chia (何政家) said.
The government should review its labor policies, not just because the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suffered serious losses in the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections, but out of care for workers’ rights, he said.
Compared with private-sector workers, public servants have more sick days and longer wedding and funeral leave, Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions president Chuang Fu-kai (莊福凱) said.
“If the government thinks they should be treated the same, then [private-sector] workers should have more of those days too. If not, they should have their seven public holidays back,” he said.
Labor groups have protested the abolishment of the public holidays since June 2016, when the Cabinet submitted to the Legislative Yuan draft amendments to the act that would increase workers’ weekly days off, but reduce public holidays from 19 to 12.
The subject regained public attention on Tuesday last week, when Premier William Lai (賴清德) said at a question-and-answer session that he would reconsider reinstating the holidays.
Minister of Labor Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) on Thursday last week said that her ministry would discuss the matter with the Ministry of the Interior.
Before rallying outside the Executive Yuan yesterday, labor groups protested outside the Ministry of the Interior’s nearby complex, demanding that it amend regulations on public holidays or draft new legislation to restore the seven days.
“If the government refuses to offer a clear time frame to discuss the restoration of the seven public holidays or to hold public hearings on the issue, the DPP will again be defeated in the next elections,” Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions secretary-general Ye Ching-yu (葉瑾瑜) said.
The scrapped holidays are Youth Day, Teachers’ Day, Retrocession Day, Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) birthday, Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) birthday, Constitution Day and the day following New Year’s Day.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
RSS