Family care rights for private sector employees should be the same as those in the public sector and the government should put an end to double standards in labor rights, the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCTU) said yesterday.
The TCTU’s statement was made in response to an amendment to the Gender Equality in Employment Act (性別工作平等法) proposed by the Council of Labor Affairs on Tuesday.
The amendment would allow paid leave for working parents with children under the age of 12 when schools are closed, but -offices -remain open in the wake of typhoons or other natural calamities. It is expected to be enacted next year.
The TCTU is unsatisfied with the amendment.
In the wake of a typhoon, civil servants are still paid under the “Operation Regulations on the Suspension of Offices and Classes because of Natural Disasters,” TCTU secretariat Hsieh Chuang-chih (謝創智) said.
Under Article 10 of the Gender Equality in Employment Act, public servants can be excused from work with approval of the organization or school if their -children are “below senior-high school level, are disabled or have special needs that require attention and attendance,” and these absences are not counted as unpaid leave, Hsieh said.
Why is there a growing discrepancy between the rights of workers in the public sector and those in the private sector if all workers are equal and the purpose of the amendment is to allow employees to look after their children without worrying, Hsieh asked.
As double-income families are becoming the norm in Taiwan, “what employees want are comprehensive family care rights,” Hsieh said.
Even if natural disasters temporarily disrupt production and prevent employees from being able to work, “this is not the employees’ responsibility and salaries should not be deducted,” he said.
The act should be amended to include five days paid leave for private sector workers, a right that civil servants already enjoy, he said.
Hsieh said he believes that companies would benefit from improved productivity and avoiding potential hazards at work.
However, 1111 Job Bank spokeswoman Charlene Chang (張旭嵐) said the new amendment might make it even more difficult for middle-aged employees, especially women with children, to find or switch jobs, especially should companies be burdened with the annual NT$2 billion (US$69 million) cost of meeting the new regulations.
It remains unclear whether the government or employers would be shouldering the costs as it is still being discussed, she said.
According to the Council of Labor Affairs’ rough estimates, Taiwanese companies could lose NT$390 million a day if the more than 600,000 working parents nationwide all took the day off.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and