The Taipei City Government yesterday said it had suggested to the Executive Yuan that local governments should require workers to make up for typhoon days.
Taipei Department of Personnel Commissioner Hwai Hsu (懷敘) said the city made the suggestion in January to the central government following an internal review of typhoon days last year, with some officials saying that requiring residents to work in lieu of the time off they were granted would help offset the fall in GDP caused by the breaks.
Taipei residents were granted one day off in September last year to brace for Typhoon Dujuan, which skirted the nation.
Photo: CNA
The fine weather Taipei residents enjoyed that day prompted Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) to acknowledge that the city had made the wrong call and say that the break was detrimental to the nation and the public.
Hwai said that the idea was first proposed by the city in 2012 and was shelved until the prevalence of typhoons last year made it a subject of discussion.
He said that with the threat of extreme weather increasing, the government would more often face decisions on whether to grant days off to brace for typhoons and other natural disasters.
He said the Executive Yuan needs to pass a regulation on whether people should work in lieu of typhoon days, which would be implemented across all cities and counties, adding that Taipei would respect the Cabinet’s decision.
He said that the city had four typhoon days last year, of which two were on weekends, prompting questions from reporters regarding the effect compensatory workdays would have on the nation’s production.
Hwai said the question requires public discussion.
The announcement was met with an outpouring of negative feedback, with many Internet users criticizing Ko for the proposal.
“Why does Ko want to make everyone a workaholic like himself?” one Internet user said.
“For a second, I almost thought that Ko was a worthy presidential contender,” another added.
Hwai denied that the suggestion was made based solely on Ko’s decision, saying that it was made after officials reached a consensus.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
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