A dozen members of the Hsing-fu Golf Club Union and their supporters yesterday protested in front of the Presidential Office Building, to demand that the Ministry of Labor end “the deliberate misclassification” of caddies as independent contractors instead of golf club employees.
The New Taipei City Labor Affairs Department and the Ministry of Labor have said that caddies should be considered employees, but most golf clubs in Taiwan, including Hsing-fu, continue to treat them as independent contractors to save money, Taoyuan City Confederation of Trade Unions secretary-general Wang Hao (王浩) said.
Independent contractors are not protected by the Labor Standard Act (勞動基準法) and do not receive labor and health insurance, a pension or paid leave, he added.
“Golf clubs refuse to provide these benefits to caddies and say this is just the way it has always been. We hope that the Presidential Office can instruct the Ministry of Labor to make it clear that all caddies should be classified as employees,” he said.
Union president Yeh Meng-lien (葉孟連) said the lack of labor and health insurance puts caddies at great risk, because all kinds of accidents can occur on a golf course.
“Earlier this year, a caddy working at a nearby golf club fell off a golf cart and lost consciousness. This made us realize how little protection we have at work,” she said.
Yeh said that like most caddies, she usually works more than 10 hours a day and rarely takes time off, because she does not get paid leave time.
“I took two days off during the Lunar New Year holiday and the other days I just lived on the golf course. I have absolutely no family life,” Yeh said.
The protesters said that caddies are also required to “help out” with other work on golf courses that is not part of their job.
The union held a strike on Tuesday last week, demanding that the Hsing-fu Golf Club in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口) recognize its caddies as formal employees, provide labor and health insurance and rehire 14 caddies who were fired after joining the union in November last year, she said.
“We will not stop protesting until the company is willing to negotiate with us,” she said.
As most caddies in Taiwan are women — including all of Hsing-fu’s — union members believe that they are fighting not only a labor issue, but also a gender problem.
Club jobs typically performed by men, such as grounds and equipment maintenance, are considered employee positions, but caddies are treated as contractors, union members said.
“I hope that our bosses learn that they should not underestimate women,” Yeh said. “We have a woman president and a woman minister of labor. If they can make it, we can make it too.”
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