Vice Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) said yesterday that the Cabinet will respect whatever decision the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) makes on the minimum wage, an issue that inevitably involves conflict between workers and employers.
However, before a decision is made on the issue, consideration should be given to whether it will help to improve the distribution of wealth and its impact on the industrial sector, he said.
At present, about 1.2 million workers in Taiwan, including 170,000 foreign laborers, are being paid the minimum wage of NT$17,280 per month, Chen said.
The CLA committee responsible for reviewing the minimum wage is scheduled to hold its annual meeting on Sept. 13 to discuss whether to raise the wage.
Labor rights groups recently proposed that the minimum wage be increased to NT$22,000 per month to help narrow the wealth gap.
However, in a joint statement issued on Friday, the leaders of the nation’s six major industrial and commercial organizations called for less government interference in the issue.
They argued that wages should be decided by market mechanisms and should not be subject to regulated, man-made adjustments.
Since the minimum wage requirement also applies to foreign workers in Taiwan, raising the wage level will result in higher foreign labor costs, the industry leaders said.
Rock Hsu (許勝雄), vice chairman of the Taiwan-based Chinese National Federation of Industries, said the government should consider if it is an opportune time to promote the policy because the global economic outlook appears less optimistic than previously predicted and many countries are looking at ways to prevent a fresh slowdown.
Hsu renewed a proposal to unlink foreign workers’ pay from the minimum wage requirement so as not to increase the financial burden on Taiwan’s industrial sector, which relies considerably on foreign labor.
The Directorate-General of Budgeting, Accounting and Statistics announced on Aug. 19 that the annual average disposable income of the top 20 percent of income-earning households was 6.34 times that of the bottom 20 percent last year, the highest gap since 2001, when it reached 6.39 times.
Commenting on the issue, Taiwan Cement chairman Leslie Koo (辜成允) said businesses, as a part of society, should not turn a deaf ear to those calling for pay raises.
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