The government would consider designating Labor Day on May 1 a national holiday, but it would require some adjustments, as the number of permitted annual days off has already been reached, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said on Tuesday.
Chen was responding to urging from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin I-chin (林宜瑾) during a legislative session for the nation to not “forget its roots” and give everyone a deserved day off to spend with family.
The holiday is currently observed by the private sector, but schools, public service jobs and the military typically do not provide the day off.
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
Taiwan has a fixed 115 to 116 national days off annually, as approved by the legislature, Chen said.
Although many people do not have to work on Labor Day, their children still have to attend school, leading to calls for a national holiday for everyone, Chen said.
The premier said their requests have been heard and the government is considering the change, although it would take some adjustments.
Lin conceded that the greatest challenge would be in budgeting overtime pay for police and firefighters, but still urged the Cabinet to think carefully about the proposal.
There has already been an internal review of the idea, but an impact assessment is still needed, Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Personnel Division Director-General Su Chun-jung (蘇俊榮) said, adding that once that is complete, it would sign off on the idea and submit it to the Cabinet.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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