The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, which has the legislative majority, has proposed a number of ill-conceived bills that have sparked protests, the most notable being amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) which seek to cancel seven national holidays and implement a workweek comprised of one fixed day off and one “flexible rest day.”
The party’s stance on labor issues has slanted significantly toward employers, leaving President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) supporters and detractors questioning whether she is about to perform a U-turn on campaign promises to support workers when implementing policies. Much of what has occurred in the process to review the amendments suggests that the DPP thinks it can change labor regulations without restraint, but, more worryingly, it suggests that the party might be half-hearted about reform.
If the amendments are passed, they would almost certainly leave loopholes for employers to misuse, resulting in a scenario in which business owners can force employees to work on their days off, reducing the 40-hour workweek that went into effect this year to little more than an empty gesture. The potential negative effects would be most strongly felt by factory workers, who are typically overworked, and people employed by small or medium-sized enterprises, the latter of which constitute about 90 percent of the nation’s private sector.
The one fixed day off, one “flexible rest day” amendment says that a business should have employees working on their days off after gaining their consent. Try to picture how this would play out in a company with fewer than 10 workers: Would an employee have the courage to turn down a request to work overtime without worrying about possible retaliation, which, in the worst-case scenario, could cost them their job?
One such example of an insincere approach to reform manifested on Friday, when DPP caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) suggested that a dedicated law could be introduced to legalize same-sex marriage. Immediately after DPP Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) proposed an amendment to the Civil Code to legalize same-sex unions, opponents of the bill clamored for a separate law on gay marriage. While such a proposition might seem reasonable to the unsuspecting, it really smacks of complacency and is just another form of discrimination against homosexuals.
The theme of this year’s Taiwan Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Parade was to end “fake friendliness,” which organizers defined as patronizing remarks or behavior in the guise of friendliness that are actually insulting to nonheterosexuals. However, after about 10,000 protesters surrounded the legislature earlier this month, the initial drive for same-sex marriage looks ready to take a back seat to the fake friendliness the parade’s participants vowed to end.
The Civil Code governs all marriages, so if Ker and opponents of gay marriage regard members of the LGBT community as human beings and citizens, they should immediately stop the proposal encouraging segregation between heterosexual and homosexual couples. If the DPP allows a separate law on same-sex marriage to be passed, it will go down in history as a culprit that deepened discrimination against homosexuals.
One proposal backed by a number of groups opposed to gay marriage calls for a referendum to be held on the issue. As Tsai publicly supported gay marriage during her presidential campaign, maybe it is time that she, as DPP chairperson, calls for a referendum to determine whether opponents of same-sex civil unions are really the “silent majority” they claim to be, rather than allow her party to flirt with the dangerous idea of subjecting homosexuals to a different law.
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