Following a recent string of mass protests, Taipei is set to be the scene of another huge demonstration tomorrow being organized in observance of International Workers’ Day and to demand that the government address the problem of low wages and scrap the dispatch worker system.
Tens of thousands of workers from around the nation are expected to hit the streets to attend a rally being organized under the theme of “opposing low wages and banning dispatching of workers” by dozens of labor groups, industrial unions and labor union federations.
During the protest, a march is to be led by a squad of atypical workers to highlight one of the organizers’ main appeals for the government to draft legislation prohibiting the use of dispatched workers, Taipei City Confederation of Trade Unions secretary-general Chiang Wan-chin (蔣萬金) said yesterday.
Chiang, who is to be in charge of the protest, said the government has paid no attention to the deterioration of wages and working conditions affecting many employees across most sectors nationwide, while the rapid increase in the number of dispatched workers and those employed for limited terms has exacerbated the stagnant salary problem.
Since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office, the unemployment rate among those aged 20 to 24 has risen to 13.75 percent, the second-highest level in the nation’s history, while the unemployment rate for college graduates consistently stands above 5 percent.
Despite the persistently high rate of youth unemployment, sources say that the government is planning to relax labor rules in an attempt to encourage children of overseas ethnic Chinese — defined as Chinese born abroad and studying at Taiwanese colleges and known commonly as qiaosheng (僑生) — and other foreign college students in Taiwan to stay and work in the country after graduating.
Currently the average monthly salary for qiaosheng and other foreign students who remain in Taiwan to work after finishing their studies must be least NT$37,619 and they are not required to have two years’ work experience to be employed in Taiwan.
Before these rules were adopted in June 2012, qiaosheng and other foreign students could only take a job with a starting salary of NT$47,971 and had to have least two years of work experience to be eligible to stay in Taiwan after graduating.
Sources have said that the Ministry of Labor Affairs is mulling removing the salary threshold and implementing the policy in June to benefit fresh graduates.
However, analysts say the rumored policy would have a crowding-out effect on Taiwanese youth by pushing down new graduates’ average monthly wages, which are already as low as NT$22,000, and could be a prelude to opening up the labor market fully to Chinese students in Taiwan, analysts had said.
According to the ministry, about 5,000 qiaosheng and other foreign students enroll at colleges or universities in Taiwan every year. After the rules on their employment were relaxed in 2012, about 1,274 of these students stayed in the nation after graduating, 36 percent of which came from Malaysia, 10 percent from Indonesia, 5 percent from the US and 3 percent from Japan, it added.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
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