President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that the government would work to strike a balance between the interests of workers and industry, and find a win-win solution for both sides.
At a meeting with business leaders, Tsai said that while the administration would not leave enterprises to face the pressures of transformation alone, it would be certain to ensure workers’ rights.
She made the comment in response to the ongoing dispute concerning workers’ hours while meeting 55 of the Chinese National Federation of Industries board directors and supervisors, including chairman Hsu Sheng-hsiung (許勝雄) and vice chairman Leslie Koo (辜成允).
Photo: CNA
Tsai said that when she met representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises several weeks ago, she told them that industries in Taiwan have to speed up their transformation so that their profits can increase, more jobs can be created and salaries can be raised.
Tsai said that she understands that enterprises have to race against time to complete orders, while workers care more about salary levels and rest breaks.
“As the head of state, my job is not to curry favor with anybody. My responsibility is to decide on a direction of development for the nation and to ensure that everyone is on the development train,” Tsai said, adding that workers and businesses should move toward the goal together.
The nation’s most important goal is modification of the economic structure, she said, adding that the government would improve the investment environment and take measures to help companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises — which account for 98 percent of Taiwan’s total businesses — to transform themselves, while ensuring workers’ rights.
“The government has the responsibility to pull workers back from the brink of low pay and overwork,” she said, adding that the government would ensure all workers’ rights to receive paid holidays and overtime pay, and impose restrictions on work hours through robust enforcement of labor laws.
Tsai also said businesses should think about how to generate benefits and improve employees’ working conditions.
She also mentioned the dispute over a draft amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), saying that the proposal is aimed at ensuring workers’ right to a maximum of two paid days off per week, but has sparked heated debate among employees and employers.
The Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan should do their utmost to explain the issue to those concerned and allow them to express their views in order to reach a consensus on the matter, she said.
The government would also tackle a dispute regarding whether to cut the number of officially designated holidays per year from 19 to 12, as part of its plans to implement a two days off, 40-hour work week system, Tsai said.
Three cases of Candida auris, a fungus that can cause a yeast infection known as candidiasis in humans, have been reported in Taiwan over the past few years, but they did not display drug resistance, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said yesterday. Lo made the statement at a news conference in Taipei, one day after the Washington Post reported that the potentially deadly fungus is spreading in US hospitals. The fungus was first discovered in Japan in 2009 and poses a danger to immunocompromised people, with an estimated mortality rate of 30 to 60 percent, Lo
‘COINCIDENCE’: The former president should keep in mind local and global response to his actions and abide by the law to safeguard national interests, the MAC said The Presidential Office yesterday confirmed that it has received an application from former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to visit China next week and would be discussing his security detail. “As the travel restrictions on former president Ma have expired, we respect his plan to pay respect to his ancestors in China,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) said. “We will review his travel plan and consult concerned agencies to assist him in arranging his security detail.” “We also hope that Ma, as a former commander in chief of Taiwan, acts in a manner that aligns with national interests and does not hurt
‘DIRE’: Taiwan would not engage in ‘dollar diplomacy,’ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, after China reportedly offered Honduras up to US$3 billion to establish relations The government yesterday recalled its ambassador to Honduras after the Central American nation sent its foreign minister to China, signaling that it would sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Suspicions concerning ties with Honduras are rife after Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Tuesday last week wrote on Twitter that her country would pursue diplomatic ties with China. Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina traveled to China on Wednesday “to promote efforts for the establishment of diplomatic relations” on instructions from Castro, Reuters yesterday quoted Honduran presidential spokesman Ivis Alvarado as saying. The government “has decided to immediately recall the ambassador to Honduras
‘NOTHING NEW’: China should not use Tsai Ing-wen’s transits through the US as a pretext to step up aggressive activity in the Taiwan Strait, a Washington official said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to stop over in the US on her way to and from Central America next week, but her administration would not confirm a meeting with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Tsai’s delegation is to leave Taipei on Wednesday next week and stop over in New York City, Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) told a news conference yesterday. Tsai is then to head to Guatemala on Saturday next week for talks with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and to meet with Taiwanese expatriates, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. On April 3, Tsai is scheduled to travel