Proposed legal changes will deprive workers of the rights, labor leaders said yesterday.
The Cabinet has presented to the legislature a draft of the Labor Three Law (
PHOTO: CHU FEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"Once the Cabinet's draft has cleared the Legislative Yuan, there will be more restrictions on workers. Teachers, civil servants and those in state-run enterprises will be barred from forming unions," said Lu Tien-lin (
People working in the areas of national defense, utilities and air-traffic control would be denied the right to strike under the proposed law. Workers in telecommunications, transportation, public health, refineries, hospitals and energy would have to go through a 30-day cooling-off period before going on strike.
Leaders representing workers in the airline industry, energy sector, national defense and education held a press conference yesterday to denounce the draft.
Teachers said planned changes to the Labor Union Law (
"Only recently when the National Teachers Union (全國教師工會) joined an international teachers' organization did we realize that Taiwan is the only country to obstruct teachers from forming labor unions," said Chang Chuo-chin (張焯青), secretary-general of the teachers union.
The union cited a UN statement that says "everyone has the right to form a union or join a union" to argue that teachers in Taiwan should have equal rights, and questioned the government's claim that the country is rooted in democratic values and human rights.
People First Party Legislator Lin Hui-kuan (
"In 2000, in his labor policy proposal, President Chen Shui-bian (
Labor organizations may have to seek international aid if the legislature passes the Cabinet's draft, Lin added.
Second reading of the bill, a strong indicator of whether it will be passed into law, is scheduled for today in the legislature.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
PROCEDURE: Although there is already a cross-strait agreement in place for the extradition of criminals, ample notice is meant to be given to the other side first Ten Taiwanese who were involved in fraud-related crimes in China were extradited back to Taiwan via Kinmen County on Wednesday, four of whom are convicted fraudsters in Taiwan. The 10 people arrived via a ferry operating between Xiamen and Kinmen, also known as the “small three links.” The Kinmen County Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said that four of the 10 extradited people were convicted in Taiwan for committing fraud and contravening the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), and were on the wanted list. They were immediately arrested upon arrival and sent to Kinmen Prison to serve their sentences following brief questioning, the office said.
PROBLEMATIC APP: Citing more than 1,000 fraud cases, the government is taking the app down for a year, but opposition voices are calling it censorship Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday decried a government plan to suspend access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小紅書) for one year as censorship, while the Presidential Office backed the plan. The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday cited security risks and accusations that the Instagram-like app, known as Rednote in English, had figured in more than 1,700 fraud cases since last year. The company, which has about 3 million users in Taiwan, has not yet responded to requests for comment. “Many people online are already asking ‘How to climb over the firewall to access Xiaohongshu,’” Cheng posted on
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
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