The Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCTU) yesterday accused businesses that have asked employees to take unpaid leave of being “irresponsible” and of breaking the law.
Unpaid leave has become a hot-button issue in recent weeks as an increasing number of companies has enforced the measure to cope with the global economic downturn. According to figures released by the Council of Labor Affairs on Thursday last week, about 2,800 workers from 12 companies had gone on unpaid leave, but labor groups disputed the numbers, saying that based on their calculations, a total of 33,000 workers from 63 companies — mostly high-tech businesses, such as LCD manufacturing — were on unpaid leave as employers try to cut costs.
No matter what the reason is, enforcing “unpaid leave” is a measure that sacrifices workers’ rights for the employers’ benefit and the practice should be eradicated, confederation secretary-general Hsieh Chuang-chih (謝創智) said in a press release.
“We’ve observed that employers are becoming more and more irresponsible. Whenever they think there might be a recession, they start putting employees on unpaid leave regardless of whether there is an actual recession,” Hsieh said.
“For employers, it may be a temporary measure to prevent layoffs during a recession, but for workers, it’s a sudden drop in income and it’s no different from being partially unemployed,” he said.
Hsieh added that any employer who unilaterally changes labor conditions, such as work hours, without being able to show good reason to support the change would be in violation of the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
Even if the employer were able to show that the company was suffering because of an industrial slump, Hsieh said that the labor law mandates that employers must negotiate with workers before putting them on unpaid leave.
However, “more often than not, [workers] are just told that they are being put on unpaid leave,” Hsieh said.
To avoid putting employees at a disadvantage, Hsieh suggested that workers be given the right to negotiate with employers collectively.
“Collective bargaining should be added to the labor law immediately,” he said.
Hsieh also took the council to task for not doing enough for employees on unpaid leave — which he described as de facto temporary unemployment.
“So far, the council has not designed a job security system to help out workers who are on unpaid leave,” he said. “That’s something that the government should do as well.”
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