LABOR
Ministry mulls public unions
The government will seriously consider a proposal to allow government employees to form workers’ unions, Minister of Labor Lin Mei-chu (林美珠) told the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee on Wednesday. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said that public servants, including police officers and firefighters, should have the right to form unions, engage in collective bargaining and take industrial action, like workers in the private sector. Lee said that firefighters work 360 to 400 hours a month, far more than the maximum 176 hours stipulated in the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), because of a staff shortage of 5,000. Police officers work under similar conditions, with about 10 dying of overwork each year, she added. The current law allows government employees to form associations, but not unions.
POLITICS
Chou ordered to apologize
The Taiwan High Court on Wednesday ruled that media personality Clara Chou (周玉蔻) must formally apologize in two newspapers and clarify her remarks about former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the New Taiwanese Cultural Foundation. In January 2015, Chou said on TV talk shows that the foundation’s nearly NT$1 billion (US$33.16 million) in funds came from Ma, who used the foundation as a personal bank account. The foundation sued Chou, and asked for NT$1 in damages and a public apology. The foundation was set up with a donation from Ma in 1999, its Web site said. The High Court said Chou does not need to pay the NT$1, but has to publish apologies in the Chinese-language Apple Daily and Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). Both parties can appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV