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
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
RSS