President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday urged businesses to raise employee wages, after announcing a 3 percent pay increase for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) workers.
Tsai made the remarks at a DPP Central Standing Committee meeting in Taipei, where they had baozi (包子, bun) from a store in Changhua County’s Lugang Township (鹿港).
Praising the restaurant, A-Zen Bakery (阿振肉包), Tsai said that the proprietor, Cheng Yung-feng (鄭永豐), should be recognized for serving good food and for raising his employees’ wages by 20 percent consecutively for the past two years.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Cheng last week gave his workers their latest pay raise, with the most junior employee at the restaurant getting a monthly pay of more than NT$40,000, she said.
The DPP’s decision this year to raise salaries by 3 percent was well-received by its workers, she said.
Business owners should not think of raising wages as a burdensome increase to their overhead, but as a way for them to share their joy with colleagues who have worked hard to grow their businesses, Tsai said.
A-Zen’s Bakery is not an exception, but a model to be emulated by other businesses in the nation, she said.
“We have been calling the public’s attention to businesses that are raising the salaries of their employees, because we want to show that there is a way for business owners and employees to work together for their mutual benefit,” she said.
The nation’s economy is taking a turn for the better and the administration will continue to improve the conditions for growth, Tsai said, adding that she hopes to see more business owners follow Cheng’s example.
“Taiwanese business owners should not stint on the wages of young and salaried workers; they will find that increasing employee morale brings growth and profit,” she said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to