The Council of Labor Affairs yesterday postponed by a month a decision on whether to increase the minimum wage, based on the recommendations of a committee tasked with looking into the option.
Mike Jen (任睦杉), president of the National Trade Union Confederation and a member of the committee, said members of the committee representing the government had argued that increasing the minimum wage at a time of economic stagnation could force businesses to close.
Committee members who represent employers said they understood the needs of workers, but believed that any decision on the minimum wage should be postponed, Jen said.
Jen, however, said the government should raise the minimum wage precisely because of the economic slowdown, adding that authorities have a duty to help low-income workers.
The council said a decision could be expected in a month, after the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research presents a report on the impact of last year’s minimum-wage increase.
The 22-member committee was composed of academics and representatives from labor groups, the private sector and the government.
As the committee debated whether to raise the minimum wage, representatives of labor unions demonstrated outside.
The rally called for a minimum wage increase of at least 38 percent to NT$23,870.
“How can we live with dignity if our salary doesn’t even afford us a minimum level of subsistence?” Labor Rights Association chief executive officer Wang Chuan-ping (王娟萍) said.
The minimum wage should grow at least as fast as the consumer price index, she said.
However, business representatives on the committee said raising the minimum wage would only benefit foreign workers and not necessarily Taiwanese workers.
“Most Taiwanese workers already earn more than the minimum wage. [Increasing the minimum wage] would therefore not make much of a difference to them and would not do any good for the country’s economic development,” a business representative said, adding that he expected the next increase would be less than 10 percent.
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