Pan-green camp lawmakers yesterday said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) should both be held accountable for the reported suspension of a planned minimum wage hike, an action the lawmakers said “betrayed the nation’s workers.”
Wang was reportedly upset about her inability to reverse Minister Without Portfolio Kuan Chung-ming’s (管中閔) opposition to the proposal to raise the minimum monthly wage to NT$19,047 (US$650) next year from the current NT$18,780.
“We want to express our anger to the Premier Sean Chen (陳冲)-led Cabinet — an administration dominated by corporate interests — and call for Minister Wang to resign,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) told a press conference.
The alleged suspension, Tsai said, was “another bounced check” among Ma’s campaign pledges, which promised to raise hourly wages to NT$115.
DPP lawmakers also issued a warning to Chen about the scheduled electricity rate increase on Dec. 10 and advised the administration to call off the increase.
The government’s insistence on raising fuel and electricity prices was the primary reason for domestic inflation rising this year, Tsai said, adding that “there is no doubt that the government is the prime culprit of current levels of inflation and the stagnant economy.”
“If the administration does not freeze the planned increase of electricity rates before the new legislative session opens on Tuesday, we will not hesitate to stage the strongest protest possible against the Premier’s scheduled report to the legislature,” Tsai said.
While the Ma administration said it planned to raise the wages “once the economic climate gets better,” it said earlier this year that the fuel and electricity prices hikes “could not wait,” DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said.
“That pretty much tells you the nature of this government — the profit of corporations is always higher on the agenda than people’s livelihoods,” Huang added.
The CLA’s plan is “humble” compared to labor rights groups’ recommendation of a minimum monthly wage of NT$23,151, but the Executive Yuan would not even approve the watered down plan despite labor groups being ready to accept it, DPP Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said.
Taiwan Solidarity Union caucus whip Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲) said Wang should resign for failing to safeguard workers’ rights, which is meant to be the ministry’s primary mission.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by