The annual Labor Day protest march in Taipei is this year to be replaced by an assembly in front of the Presidential Office because of COVID-19, a coalition of trade unions that organize the event said yesterday.
In light of a recent increase in domestic COVID-19 cases, the coalition would not mobilize workers to take to the streets on Sunday next week, but would organize an assembly on Ketagalan Boulevard to call on the government to raise the minimum wage and take measures to ensure better safety in the workplace, the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCTU), which leads the coalition, told a news conference in Taipei.
The government should raise the minimum wage from NT$25,250 to NT$28,000, starting next year, as the increasing cost of living is driving real wages down, TCTU president Chiang Chien-hsing (江健興) said.
Photo: CNA
The average monthly pay last year was NT$43,211, up 1.93 percent from the previous year, Chiang said, citing data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.
However, after deducting the nearly 3 percent rise in the consumer price index, real monthly pay decreased 0.04 percent last year, he said, adding that it was the first decline in five years.
The idea that higher wages would push inflation up is used by “bad” employers to avoid wage increases, Chiang said, urging the government to adjust the minimum wage later this year to mitigate the effects of inflation.
Although Taiwan’s economy grew 6.28 percent last year, the highest growth rate in 11 years, the COVID-19 pandemic hurt workers financially, Yilan County Confederation of Trade Unions president Hu Sheng-yi (胡勝已) said.
The assembly on Sunday next week, at which the coalition expects a turnout of approximately 1,000 trade union members, is intended to remind the government of the difficulties faced by hundreds of thousands of workers amid the pandemic, Hu added.
The coalition also urged the government to do more to prevent workplace injuries and ensure that injured workers are better compensated.
Every year, about 50,000 workers in Taiwan are injured at work, and of these, about 500 are killed, Chiang said.
The government should also create measures to help injured workers re-enter the workforce, he added.
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