The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday urged the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to “think twice” before rushing proposed amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) through the legislature.
Speaking at a news conference in Taipei yesterday morning, NPP caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) asked the DPP government to think clearly and reconsider its decision to push the amendments through the legislature.
Urging the DPP caucus to refrain from “abducting public opinion” by threatening to subject DPP members who fail to toe the party line to disciplinary measures, Hsu questioned the rationale behind the party’s decisions to shelve draft bills on marriage equality while passing the amendments to the act in a rush.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
“Whose interests is the DPP safeguarding?” Hsu asked.
NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) blasted the DPP caucus’ move to initiate a motion to remove an article in the planned amendments that proposes heavy fines for large corporations that violate the act.
“I cannot believe the ruling party, which had repeatedly vowed to protect workers’ rights, initiated a motion today to delete the proposed Article 78-1 aimed at bolstering punishments that took us a lot of effort to put it on the version passed during previous legislative committee reviews,” Huang said on Facebook.
Huang said the removal of the proposed clause could see employees who violate the act get away with a mere NT$20,000 fine, and urged the DPP caucus to revoke the motion and respect the consensus reached during committee review.
According to the proposed addendum of Article 78-1, companies that violate the act would face fines that are proportional to their size, with the maximum amount being set at NT$5 million (US$156,484) for a company with more than 500 employees.
However, the DPP caucus is leaning toward dealing with violators through the proposed version of Article 79 of the act, which carries a fine of no less than NT$20,000 and not more than NT$1 million.
DPP spokesman Yang Chia-liang (楊家俍) urged Huang not to “pretend to understand things he does not,” saying that Huang’s inaccurate interpretations of the content of the proposed amendments shows his inability to review draft bills.
“The proposed changes to Article 79 ... also allow government agencies to increase the fine up to NT$1.5 million, after considering the corporate size, number of violators and the severity of violations,” Yang said.
Yang said the amended act would have a more comprehensive deterrent effect on employers.
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with
RSS