As May Day approaches, a survey was published revealing that the public gave the government a grade that just for the overall performance of its labor policies since it came into power in May 2000.
"Respondents gave an approval rating of 61 percent for a series of labor policies drafted by the DPP during its three years in government," DPP Legislator Chiu Yeong-jen (邱永仁) said.
Chiu, who hosted the press conference about the poll at the legislature yesterday, indicated that the results were being published to mark the last May Day of the DPP's first presidential term. The survey suggested that President Chen Shui-bian's (
Chiu interpreted the poll results as a reflection of public discontent since they believed that Chen's administration should have been able to initiate an economic revival.
"But the score still indicates that the majority of people endorse the overall labor policy, as respondents said they backed the government's labor policies during interviews," Chiu said.
According to the poll, 74 percent of those interviewed favored the `accumulated labor insurance seniority,' an amendment to labor insurance regulations stating that employees can accumulate labor insurance seniority despite changing jobs.
The implementation of the Occupational Accident Labor Protection Law received support from 64.30 percent of the poll respondents, said Wayne Shiah (夏瑋), spokesman of 1111 Manpower Bank, an Internet employment search company. The company was commissioned by Chiu to conduct the survey.
"Employees lauded the law as they realized the legal protection would safeguard workers' interests by regulating employers and requiring the government to provide compensation in case of occupational accidents," Shiah said.
The preferential policy of lowering interest rates of residential mortgages to underprivileged employees was endorsed by 60.45 percent of the respondents. Three other policies -- the provision of bailout loans to laborers, formulation of the Gender Equality in Employment Law and legal protection for employees dismissed in mass lay-offs -- all attained the backing of over 50 percent of individuals interviewed.
The 1111 spokesman said the gender-equality law was the favorite DPP labor policy among employees followed by the preferential residential mortgage plan and the bailout loans.
The spokesman suggested that increased publicity and further explanation of the policies is necessary, as the poll also found that most respondents were unfamiliar with the newly drafted policies.
"The survey concluded that three policies approved last year -- the employment law, the occupational accident labor protection law and the mass lay-off labor protection law -- were among the least known by the interviewees regarding the dates of approval and the specific details of the policies," he said.
Shiah said that respondents had expressed doubt about any real benefits they could gain from the job-creation program.
"Nearly half of the people interviewed felt that politicians' verbal battles overwhelmed the issue, rather than giving ample discussion of the necessity of the program," he said.
The 1111 Manpower Bank conducted the poll from April 7 to April 21 among 20,000 respondents selected through random sampling.
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