Labor rights groups said they plan to take to the streets tomorrow to protest the government’s inability to protect workers from death resulting from overwork and to mark World Day for Safety and Health at Work.
The Taiwan Association for Victims of Occupational Injuries plans to lead dozens of groups in a demonstration in front of the Department of Health headquarters to protest against government agencies they say fail to protect the health and well-being of workers.
The groups said overwork is not just a labor problem, but also a problem that affects the health of the nation.
Photo: CNA
The health department promotes campaigns aimed at helping people to quit smoking, exercise more and eat a balanced diet, but it has turned a blind eye to work-related stress and injuries as a result of excessive work hours, low wages and hazardous work environments, association secretary-general Huang Hsiao-ling (黃小陵) said.
Huang said if the department only focused on the illnesses that result from overwork, but did nothing to tackle the root cause of the problem — unreasonable work hours and high-stress work environments — then there would continue to be more deaths and illnesses resulting from overwork, as well as the continued deterioration of workers’ well-being and quality of life will.
The association plans to mock what they believe to be the agency’s futile efforts to combat work-related stress through a skit in front of the agency’s headquarters, with protesters performing the exercises the department has been promoting for office workers to do during their break periods.
They will demand that health and labor authorities come up with measures to combat death from overwork by conducting a comprehensive analysis of the major workplace risk factors and causes of deaths.
They will also ask for an effective system to report work-related injuries and illnesses, as well as ways to coordinate follow-up efforts on worker compensation and penalizing employers found responsible for causing deaths or illnesses from overwork.
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