A greater number of companies are imposing furloughs on their workers than the government’s official figure, a high-tech workers’ union said yesterday as it petitioned labor officials to address the issue.
Urging workers to join unions, the Trade Union of Electrical, Electronic and Information Workers in Taiwan sent a list of 63 companies it said have imposed unpaid leave on their workers to Huang Wei-chen (黃維琛), section chief of the Council of Labor Affairs’ (CLA) department of working conditions.
Union secretary-general Lin Ming-che (林名哲) said that according to its most recent data, a total of 33,000 employees from 63 enterprises have been put on unpaid leave.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The number is in contrast to the council’s official figure of 2,801 people from 12 enterprises, Lin said.
Lin said the gap is more a result of employers trying to cover up the real number than workers providing false accounts, adding that it is the government’s responsibility to check and confirm the figures.
The union called on employees to form or join trade unions to gain more of an equal footing in negotiations with management. It also urged the council to set up and promote a special hotline for workers to report any irregularities regarding their employers.
In response, Huang said the council would ask local labor authorities to check the enterprises on the list to confirm if leave measures have been implemented and it would publish the finalized results on Nov. 16.
If the enterprises are confirmed to have illegally placed workers on furlough, they would face a maximum fine of NT$300,000 (US$9,960), while serious offenders would be named and shamed, Huang said.
Under current regulations, companies can only implement unpaid leave in the case of financial losses, if they have gained the consent of workers following negotiations between employees and employers, and if workers’ monthly incomes are still no less than the national minimum wage of NT$17,880.
As to the gap between the union’s figures and the official numbers, Huang attributed the difference to the time the government needs to confirm the accuracy of the information.
He said the council would continue to monitor the situation and would ask local authorities to promptly investigate reports of workers being placed on unpaid leave from the media, trade unions and the employee complaint hotline.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
RSS