The Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) has made reviewing the country's minimum wage one of its priority tasks for the current fiscal year, CLA Vice Chairman Kuo Fang-yu (
When CLA Chairman Lee Ying-yuan (
As the country's minimum wage has been frozen at NT$15,840 per month -- which translates into NT$528 per day or NT$66 per hour -- for 10 years, Kuo said it's time to make an overall review and consider the feasibility of an adjustment.
Kuo said the minimum hourly wage now in effect was especially unreasonable.
"While the legal work week has been cut to 84 hours for two weeks from 90 hours since 2001, the minimum hourly wage is still based on the previous eight-hour work day formula, " he said, adding that the present hourly wage rate fails to reflect the shortened work week for wage earners.
Against this backdrop, Kuo said, the present basic wage rate requires a review.
To ensure fair treatment for hourly wage earners, he said, future adjustments should also take into account the stipulation in the Labor Standards Law (勞基法) that wage earners are entitled to paid regular days off and national holidays.
Nevertheless, Kuo said, the council has yet to reach a decision on whether to adjust the basic wage rate and by how much.
Kuo said that Lee will hold talks with labor union leaders in the coming weeks to exchange views on relevant issues.
After those sessions, the CLA's wage screening committee will meet to discuss the feasibility of an upward adjustment and the most reasonable wage range, he said.
Commenting on the minimum wage adjustment proposal, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-hsiang (
"The CLA will have to communicate with business and industry executives to seek their support if it insists on going ahead with the plan," Shih said, adding that the Ministry of Economic Affairs is evaluating the possible impact on local industries of an upward minimum wage adjustment.
The ministry will also study what the adjustment range should be to minimize its possible adverse impact on local industries' export competitiveness, Shih said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS