The Control Yuan’s corrective measure against the Executive Yuan’s “one fixed day off, one flexible rest day” labor policy was “beneath” the Control Yuan, Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) said yesterday.
“The Control Yuan corrected the Executive Yuan, which was a slap in the face for Legislative Yuan members, because lawmakers are responsible for passing legislation,” Su said at a cross-caucus negotiation.
The Control Yuan on Wednesday passed a correction against the Executive Yuan and the Ministry of Labor for hastily proposing amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), saying that the agencies submitted the draft amendments to the legislature without first conducting a thorough assessment of potential pitfalls and without sufficient communication with the public.
The draft amendments were passed in just seven days and have caused the cost of living to soar and have disrupted society, the Control Yuan said, adding that the effects of the amendments have dissipated within a year of their passage.
New Power Party caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) urged Su to respond to comments by Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇), who on Wednesday said that “the amendments were not a one-sided decision.”
“The Legislative Yuan could have revised them according to lawmakers’ motions,” Hsu Kuo-yung said.
The Executive Yuan shifted its responsibility onto lawmakers, Hsu Yung-ming said.
Hsu Yung-ming also compared Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee convener Lin Ching-yi’s (林靜儀) handling of an ongoing review of new draft amendments to the act to former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Ching-chung’s (張慶忠) handling of the review of the draft for a mothballed cross-strait service trade agreement on March 17, 2014, which is widely considered to have led to the Sunflower movement on the next day.
“Since the committee review chaired by Chang was voided, so too should the review chaired by Lin,” Hsu Yung-ming said, referring to alleged “flaws” in Lin’s moderation of a review last month.
“Since when did you start to admire the Control Yuan and Chang so much?” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming [柯建銘] said in response to Hsu Yung-ming.
The Control Yuan was “messing around” by “bossing the legislature around,” Ker said, triggering a response from Hsu Yung-ming and KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Wei-chou (林為洲), who asked Ker why the DPP still wants to make follow-up nominations of Control Yuan members to fill 11 seats left vacant by members named by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
The DPP wants to nominate decent people to the Control Yuan to rectify it, Ker said.
The Control Yuan has done something “beneath” it by issuing a correction after a legislation is passed, Su said.
“It is only natural that laws are amended. If a law can please everyone, lawmakers should all just retire after one term,” Su said.
“There might have been a premise for correcting insufficient assessment, but then there is a wide range of criteria when it comes to assessment,” he said.
“Even God could not be 100 percent accurate if asked to conduct an assessment. That is why there are legal amendments,” Su said, urging the five branches of the government to respect one another.
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