More than 3,000 people participated in a march hosted by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday in Taipei supporting labor rights and opposing workplace bullying.
During the march, which started in front of the Ministry of Labor building and ended on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building, TPP lawmakers and party secretary-general Chou Yu-hsiu (周榆修) took turns saying the party supports anti-bullying legislation, the establishment of unions for police and firefighters, and has enacted laws to protect whistleblowers.
They also invited participants to write a letter and insert it into a box labelled “charity,” and said that they hoped the president would be charitable and heed workers’ demands for justice and protection.
Photo: CNA
Although former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said she had a soft spot for workers, she had removed seven national holidays, TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said, adding that President William Lai (賴清德), who implemented that policy as then-premier, had not protected the workers, and now a life has been lost due to bullying during his presidency.
Huang was referring to the death of a 39-year-old ministry employee surnamed Wu (吳), who was found dead at the Executive Yuan’s Sinjhuang Joint Office Tower in New Taipei City on Nov. 4. Wu had allegedly taken his own life after being bullied by his supervisor.
TPP Legislator Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) said Lai and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) failed to deliver on their promise of justice.
“The TPP will wait no longer,” Chang said, adding that the party would propose anti-bullying legislation over the next week.
The proposed legislation would include clauses requiring that more than half of any review committee for bullying incidents be comprised of non-departmental staff or third-party members, he said.
Citing a report by the legislature’s Budget Center, National Civil Servant Association president Kao Shih-nan (高誓男) said that last year, 11 public servants committed suicide and 1,300 left their jobs, which were 120 percent and 122 percent higher than figures in 2022.
Kao attributed the increase in suicides and quitting to the inequality between public servants and their superiors, antiquated laws, and outdated methods of management.
He also urged the government to enact legislation to end bullying, improve labor safety laws, allow public servants to unionize, improve work hours and overtime systems, and change retirement laws.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS