On Saturday, President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) government will mark its first 100 days in office. This has not been a honeymoon, with the approval ratings of both the president and the Cabinet having dropped to less than 50 percent. Due to an apparent lack of focus, the government has encountered stiff opposition and its policy implementation has bogged down earlier than expected.
There is an urgent labor dispute over the workweek. Businesses and employees find themselves in gridlock and, having failed to establish its mediating role, the government now finds itself in a difficult situation. It is only natural for companies and workers to push their own interests, but the government sets policy and enforces the law, so it must remain unbiased while working on promoting the public’s and national interests, as it lays down pragmatic and comprehensive laws to maintain good labor market relations.
The long-term Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) policy has tended to lean toward workers. There is nothing wrong with policies that protect the right to work for a majority of people, but the government has been listening to the protests of stronger labor organizations, whose demands might be idealistic, but might be difficult to implement. If it is not possible to find a feasible approach to mediate between management and employees and between business operations and labor regulations, businesses will become less flexible and competitive, which could result in deteriorating labor conditions. That would be like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Workers’ groups are concerned that failure to establish legally binding labor regulations — such as base pay, work hours and rest days — will compromise their rights and leave them unprotected. However, to be able to improve labor laws, regulations and conditions, it is necessary to understand whether the nation’s labor environment has stagnated because of exploitation of workers or a deteriorating economy.
Of course, there are bad business owners who ignore labor rights, but a significant reason that salaries have dropped is that Taiwanese industry has lost its growth momentum and the economy has stagnated, which, in turn, has led to fewer jobs. If the root cause is a general deterioration of Taiwanese industry, the best way to improve the labor situation and rights would be to revive the economy. Otherwise, amending legislation to force an improvement in labor conditions would instead lead to layoffs and factory closures, which would have a negative impact on labor rights. As the government sets the policy for the nation’s overall direction, it must consider the interests of the public as a whole and fulfill its responsibilities as it mediates the interests of all parties in arriving at an optimal policy.
The government’s policy choices are not a zero-sum game, but rather a matter of creating flexibility between the different options in order to resolve differences of opinion, lest it be forced to make a decision based on political judgement. The government has often been criticized for rewarding those who protest the loudest, regardless of whether their demands are reasonable, legal or represent the public’s opinion. This has resulted in repeated changes and policy U-turns. It is small wonder then that the government’s approval ratings are falling.
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