About 400 government contract workers yesterday rallied outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to demand better work conditions that meet the minimum standards stipulated in the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
Low-level government staff hired on short-term contracts for non-regular positions are not protected by the act, but by regulations for public-sector employees, Kaohsiung National Taxation Bureau Union president Chen Hsueh-chin (陳雪琴) said.
The regulations clearly define the workers’ obligations, but are elusive on their rights, which have turned contract employees into easy targets for exploitation, she said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“The government has been exploiting its contract workers to cut costs and all we ask is that the most basic work conditions stipulated in the Labor Standards Act are guaranteed,” Chen said.
There are more than 20,000 government contract workers nationwide, accounting for 5 percent of all civil servants, the union said.
They are typically hired on annual contracts, but many have been working in the same agency for decades, it said.
The contract workers have long been demanding that they be treated according to the act, as it would significantly increase their pensions and paid time off, saying that blue-collar workers in the public sector are covered by the act.
According to Ministry of Civil Service regulations, a contract workers who retires at the age of 65 after working 40 years at a government agency would receive a lump-sum pension of only NT$400,000 (US$13,031), the union said.
In contrast, a formal employee working in maintenance at the same agency would receive a payment of up to NT$1.8 million, it said.
In the event of a work-related death, a contract employee’s family members would be compensated only 10 months of salary, or about NT$300,000, while those of a maintenance worker would be compensated 40 months of salary, or at least NT$1.2 million, the union said.
In addition, the act grants regular employees up to one year of sick leave days over two years, but contract employees are only allowed to take up to 30 days of sick leave over the same period, it said.
The protesters’ calls for better work conditions received support from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators who joined the rally.
The government “does not even need to amend any laws to settle the matter. Officials from the Ministry of Civil Service, Ministry of Labor and Directorate-General of Personnel Administration only need to have a meeting,” KMT caucus whip Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) told the protesters.
“Their reluctance to do so shows that the government does not care about its employees. If that is the case, what can we expect it to do for other workers?” he said.
KMT legislators promised to improve contract employees’ labor rights and said they would hold a public hearing with the union at the legislature within the next three weeks.
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