This year’s labor rights march will focus on pushing back against industry demands for changes to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), organizers said yesterday, urging the Ministry of Labor to eliminate exceptions to the act’s application.
Dozens of labor union members demonstrated along Ketagalan Boulevard, shouting slogans demanding that the government oppose exploitation and provide guarantees to workers.
Demands that the act be applied to workers from all professions will set apart this year’s march on Monday next week, from the previous nine marches, organizers said.
Photo: CNA
Demonstrators will also reiterate demands for higher wages and the elimination of “dispatch workers” to promote permanent employment, they said.
Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions chairman Chuang Fu-kai (莊福凱), who will lead this year’s march, said it was crucial to provide protection guaranteed by the Labor Standards Act to excluded groups, such as part-time teachers, contractual government employees and doctors.
“Without the protection of the Labor Standards Act, these groups’ severance pay, retirement benefits and overtime rates are completely at the mercy of their employers,” he said.
Organizers added the demand for universal act application at the urging of related unions, he said.
Efforts by employers to push for lower labor standards since the passage of the “one mandatory day off and one flexible rest day” are also a major concern, he said.
The amendment aimed at guaranteeing a five day workweek were passed following years of debate, with implementation over the past several months continuing to spark controversy.
“While industry groups keep saying the new reforms do not fit industry needs, the reality is that they been running naked for years,” National Federation of Independent Trade Unions executive secretary Jia Bo-kai (賈伯楷) said, adding that higher social awareness following debate over the reform has put pressure on corporations to begin abiding by regulatory standards.
The ministry should reject industry demands to expand the “responsibility system” and “flexible work hours” exceptions to overtime standards, he said.
Minister of Labor Lin Mei-chu (林美珠) last week said that she does not yet have a “fixed opinion” on whether further amendments are necessary, with the ministry to announce its stance by the end of a “grace period” aimed at helping companies adapt to the new reforms concludes.
Protesters performed a skit portraying cuts to labor pensions as President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) latest gift to industry groups, but demands that the cuts be dropped were muted in comparison with their emphasis on labor standards.
Chuang said that making labor pensions a “little bit worse” was “unfair” as they are already far less than those offered to civil servants, teachers and military personnel.
The Labor Day march is to begin at 2pm at Ketagalan Boulevard and proceed along Xinyi Road to the offices of the Chinese National Federation of Industries and Republic of China General Chamber of Commerce.
Additional reporting by Wu Po-wei
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