Laws aimed at addressing long-term problems of low wages and wage stagnation have stalled in the legislature.
Three of the “four laws for pay raises” proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus were up for discussion yesterday, but met opposition from groups representing industries and commercial enterprises, and were pulled from the agenda by the legislature’s new political alliance for cross-party negotiation.
The amendments proposed to the Company Act (公司法), the Factory Act (工廠法), the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act (中小企業發展條例) — dubbed the “four laws for pay raises” — involve reducing working hours and requiring businesses to allocate a percentage of their profits to employees in the form of bonuses or dividends.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday that the main point is to “have corporations and workers benefit together,” but stressed that while corporations should treat their employees better, “regulating [better treatment] might deserve a second thought.”
Lawmakers had scheduled to pass three of the four amendments in yesterday’s legislative floor meeting, but the newly formed caucus “New Legislative Alliance” — consisting of two People First Party (PFP) legislators, one former KMT lawmaker, who withdrew from the party and formed a new political party earlier this year, and a lawmaker with no party affiliation — on Thursday night called for cross-party negotiations over the bills, thereby halting their passage.
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act was not discussed because it is pending further cross-party negotiations.
PFP Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔), the caucus secretary-general of the new alliance, said they doubted that the proposed amendments would be able to grant substantial benefits to workers and demanded clearer definitions be thrashed out on how the raises would be substantiated.
While the alliance claimed that it pulled the bills from the agenda to ensure the amended laws would be effective in benefiting workers, the postponement has for the time being served the end of another group of protesters.
Seven industry and business groups, including the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce and the Taiwan and Chinese National Federation of Industries, voiced their concerns about the proposed changes outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei on Thursday, especially the requirement that businesses need to negotiate with unions over the allocation of the enterprises’ profits or face fines.
Federation secretary-general Tsai Lien-sheng (蔡練生) said during a meeting with Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) that it was not feasible for corporations to negotiate with unions, as the authority to allocate profits is in the hands of boards and shareholders.
“Also, there might be plenty of unions in a corporation, each of which holds a different position on the allocation. It would be unfair to punish companies if negotiations fail,” he added.
Tsai said that if the environment to invest becomes unfriendly, “industries would have no choice but to leave Taiwan.”
After the meeting, the Executive Yuan released a statement saying that the two sides have “come to a consensus over amendments requiring two days off work each week and the principle of sharing profits with workers.”
Regarding the cap on working hours, it said it would keep the “40 hours a week” rather than the “80 hours every two weeks” advocated by the business groups, but “remains open to a cap on overtime.”
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RSS