About a dozen members of the Miramar Golf Country Club union and other unions yesterday accused the club of deliberately misclassifying its caddies as contract employees to avoid paying labor insurance and pensions.
The caddies take orders from their employers and work according to their assigned schedules, which should qualify them as employees, Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions secretary Lee Yi-ching (李怡靜) told a news conference outside the Ministry of Labor.
The ministry should launch an investigation and reclassify the caddies, she said, adding that the caddies’ labor rights have long been ignored because the labor law offers them little protection.
Photo: Yeh Kuan-yu, Taipei Times
The New Taipei City Department of Labor in October last year reclassified the caddies at the Hsing-fu Golf Club as employees after workers reported the misclassification to the government, she added.
The ministry would look into the matter and ask the local government to carry out an investigation when it receives the report, a ministry representative said.
About the same time the union members were protesting outside the ministry, a group of about 50 non-union Miramar workers gathered outside the New Taipei City Government building to demand that it help end a strike at the country club that began on Friday.
Members of the self-help group held up placards that read “I want to work” and shouted that they need money to have a good Lunar New Year holiday.
Head of the self-help group, Lin Mei-chu (林美珠), said that the city government has been biased toward the union and ignored the rights of other workers.
She questioned the legality of the strike and requested that the New Taipei City Department of Labor remove a picket line outside the club and allow other employees to work.
A member of the self-help group, Huang Yi-liang (黃義樑), said that he does not support the union’s demand of a salary hike and year-end bonuses, but hopes the club and the union would resume negotiations and reach an agreement soon, as that would be ideal for everyone.
The union has launched the strike to demand that the club rehire 18 fired employees, raise salaries by 3 percent, provide year-end bonuses amounting to 1.5 times monthly salary and not use contract employees unless agreed by the union.
Department of Labor official Lai Yen-heng (賴彥亨) said that the strike is legal and that people should respect the picket line.
Hopefully, employers and employees at the club can soon resume negotiations and reach an agreement, he said.
Additional reporting by Ann Maxon
EVA Airways was ranked the eighth-best airline in the world for this year, the only Taiwanese carrier to make it into the top 25 Airline Excellence Awards this year, aviation reviews Web site AirlineRatings.com said on Wednesday. AirlineRatings.com has a seven-star rating system to evaluate more than 360 airlines around the world every year, EVA Airways said in a statement on Thursday. “We are delighted that efforts by the entire EVA staff have been recognized by Airline Ratings,” EVA Airways president Clay Sun (孫嘉明) said in the release. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company identified and adopted services and procedures that enhance and
A promotional event for the launch of a drinks store led to police questioning a 26-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), the Taichung Police Department said yesterday. Police said that they questioned Chang and forwarded the case to prosecutors, accusing her of producing, distributing, broadcasting or selling pornography. Police said she faces charges related to the alleged distribution of indecent photographs on Twitter and using overtly sexual innuendos to promote the store on Monday night. Officers stumbled upon the content during a routine Internet “patrol.” Chang faces a prison sentence of up to two years and up to a NT$90,000 fine if found guilty
Exiled Chinese democracy advocate Wang Dan (王丹) yesterday denied an accusation by former Taiwanese political worker Lee Yuan-chun (李援軍) that Wang had sexually harassed him in a hotel room in New York nine years ago. There was a huge gap between Lee’s accusation and his own understanding and memory, Wang wrote on Facebook, adding it was hard for him to respond further regarding a “unilateral description” made by someone else. Wang made the remarks after his initial response on Facebook was met with criticism, with people saying he did not directly address the allegation. Lee on Friday wrote on Facebook that he
MORE WARNINGS: If the US company does not clarify and solve issues with its frozen berries, the FDA might extend an import suspension implemented last month, it said The Kaohsiung Department of Health yesterday said it fined Costco NT$4.5 million (US$146,265) over contaminated frozen strawberries, while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that although the US company had filed an improvement plan, an import suspension on frozen berries could remain. Three types of frozen berry products imported and sold by Costco have tested positive for the hepatitis A virus since April. The Kaohsiung health department previously fined Costco NT$300,000 for not providing the sales list of a contaminated batch of Kirkland Signature Three Berry Blend imported from Chile, in contravention of the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法). It later
RSS