Alliance seeks support at labor event in Kaohsiung

RESPECTING LABOR:The Kaohsiung Federation of Labor Unions president praised the alliance for putting a labor activist atop its legislator at-large list

By Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

The Green Party-Social Democratic Party Alliance yesterday held a Labor Front Unity Congress in Kaohsiung as it seeks to boost its support in the south.

The event in Labor Park was attended by the leaders of more than 10 unions, who stood with party leaders to encourage workers to vote for the alliance in the party ballot on Jan. 16.

“What is important is that [the alliance has] respected labor by putting a labor activist at the top of its legislator-at-large slate,” said Chen Chih-ming (陳志銘), president of the Kaohsiung Federation of Labor Unions, referring to at-large candidate Chang Li-fun (張麗芬).

“There is no party that workers will support unconditionally, but if they respect us, we will support them to the fullest,” Chen said.

The heads of the Tainan Confederation of Trade Unions and the Taipei City Confederation of Trade Unions were also in attendance.

“We are not a wealthy party, so it is unlikely that we will be able to purchase advertisements, but we hope to pull in more votes with everyone’s help,” Chang said.

She said that the event was intended to increase the party’s visibility in the south, following a similar event in Tainan last week.

“There are many autonomous unions in the south, but a majority of our candidates are running in districts in the north, so we think more can be done to garner party ballots,” she said.

There are relatively fewer unions in the north, where the service sector is more dominant relative to traditional industry, she said.

The alliance is contesting one legislative district in Tainan, with the rest of its district candidates registered in the north, particularly in Taipei and New Taipei City.

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Teaching English in Taiwan: Know your labor rights

2015/11/29 17:21:00

(CNA file photo)

Whether it's a nightly cram school (buxiban) or prestigious primary school, understanding your labor rights as an English Teacher in Taiwan can save you a lot of trouble in the long run.

Having the law on hand and knowing a few basic provisions can provide ample negotiating power for foreign language teachers before, during, and after signing a contract.

[1] Negotiating your contract:

●Important questions to ask:

Is my pay on salary or is it by hour?

What is your policy on sick days?

What does perfect attendance mean?

If I miss a day does it affect my bonus?

What is your late policy?

What is your dress code policy?

When is the pay cycle?

Will it be direct deposit or in cash?

What is your overtime policy?

When will my health insurance be activated?

All of the answers to the questions above should be written explicitly in the contract. Remember: obtain a hard copy of the contract in both English and Chinese, and ensure your copy matches the company's copy.

●Wages:

There are two pay methods in Taiwan, and it is crucial both the employee and the employer agree upon the method used: hourly or salary.

Hourly is self-explanatory -the employee is paid for every hour they work. Pay deductions for tardiness or no-shows can be negotiated between both parties.

Salary is determined by a specific pay period (often by month) and not by an hourly basis. However, the concept of salary is not concretely defined by Taiwanese labor laws, so it is available for negotiation and differs depending on the company.

In theory, the company should not make hourly deductions because the salary is not based on hours/week, but on the work itself. Therefore pay deduction rules should be established if a workday is canceled, the employee misses half a day, etc.

The monthly minimum wage has recently been raised to NT$20,008 (US$612.93), and pay for teaching English varies greatly depending on the type of school and contract (starting roughly at NT$600 per hour).

●Working Hours:

Full time is considered 40 hours per week.

According to Article 32 of the Labor Standards Act, an employee will not work more than 12 hours per day in extension with overtime, and no more than 46 hours of overtime in a month.

Article 24 outlines that overtime is paid at the hourly wage plus an extra two-thirds of that wage. Therefore if an employee makes NT$600 per hour, overtime would equal NT$1,000 per hour.

[2] During your contract:

●Check the pay stub to ensure there are no surprise deductions from the salary.

●Leave a paper trail of all correspondences in case reference is needed for any dispute cases.

●Ensure you are not being coerced into working other jobs NOT listed in the contract.

●Stay in regular communication with your employer/supervisor.

According to the Labor Standards Act (Article 37 and Article 39)

◎Regular leave: Employee must receive one day of rest every seven days.

◎Holiday leave: All employees are granted access to approved holidays. If an employee agrees to work the holiday, they will be paid double the regular rate for such work.

Based on the Labor Standards Act, employee is entitled to:

◎Sick leave: Employee will receive half pay per day for maximum of 30 days (if not hospitalized). Each company has a different policy on sick leave, so an employee should heed those rules and keep all doctor notices.

◎Personal leave: Allowed up to 14 unpaid days.

If the employee is absent from the company with no reason/no notice for three consecutive days, the employer may immediately terminate the contract. So make sure to communicate with the company!

[3] Severance Options

According to the Labor Standards Act…

Often a contract will say that a worker needs to give one month notice before they can quit; however, if an employer violates any of the conditions in Article 14, the employee may quit without giving notice.

On the other hand, if an employee violates any conditions in Article 12, the employer may also terminate the contract without giving notice.

In Article 16, it states that an employee who has worked between three months and one year only needs to give a 10-day notice before quitting. If an employee worked for the company more than one year but less than three, then a 20-day notice is required, and anything over three years necessitates a 30-day notice.

These notice requirements also apply to the employer. Again, if ANY part of a contract is in violation of any part in Article 14 (for employers) or Article 12 (for employees), NO notice is needed.

According to Article 16, once advanced notice is given to terminate the contract, the employee is allowed a maximum of two paid days per week to seek other employment options.

After a contract is terminated, the employee has 15 days to leave the country, file for an extension, or find a new occupation that can provide a work visa and ARC.

If a dispute does occur, an employee may file a dispute case with the Council of Labor Affairs for free arbitration.

These provisions are only the starting points for someone looking to teach English in Taiwan, and it is important for those interested to review the laws mentioned earlier in greater detail.

Also, check out the following links below for more information on taxes, insurance, and visas:

●FAQ -- Labor Protection: http://www.bycpa.com/html/news/20132/1804.html

●Council of Labor Affairs Offices in Taiwan: http://www.tealit.com/article_categories.php?section=arcs&article=offices

●Tax & Insurance Information: http://iff.immigration.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=1217227&ctNode=34333&mp=iff_en

●Employment Insurance Act (unemployment): http://www.bli.gov.tw/en/sub.aspx?a=yjSi8nnR0OU%3D

(By CNA intern Rachel McGuffin)
Enditem/BL

Activists promise to continue labor campaign

By Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Labor activists hold up a large chart to show which political parties have signed to support proposed labor reforms during a street protest in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: Huang Pang-ping, Taipei Times

The nation’s two major political parties have refused to present a labor platform, labor activists said yesterday, promising to escalate protests until the presidential candidates make their policies clear.

Activists from the National Alliance for Workers of Closed Factories, Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions and other labor groups brandished hammers as they gathered along Ketagalan Boulevard, yelling that both the pan-blue and pan-green political camps pander to corporations.

Representatives used a sledgehammer to crush a “black box” of opaque policymaking, from which activists wearing masks emblazoned with the faces of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had earlier drawn slips of paper bearing the name of anti-labor policies such as “cutting worker holidays” and “eliminating capital gains taxes on investments,” which activists said both major parties have supported.

They promised to “struggle” with presidential candidates until they made clear their positions on pension reform, long-term care, political strikes, government employment of contract workers, as well as the labor conditions of medical and emergency personnel.

Activist said that yesterday marked the half-way point between the Jan. 16 presidental and legislative elections and when demands for each of the five issues were announced early last month.

National Alliance for Workers of Closed Factories member Lu Chih-hung (盧其宏) said that both Chu and Tsai had met the demands with silence, despite repeated protests and forums.

“Throughout this process, the large parties — as well as the Taiwan Solidarity Union, the Rublic Party and the People First Party — have not shown the slightest willingness to take a position,” he said, adding that the activists had only received responses from small parties, such as the New Power Party (NPP) and Green Party-Social Democratic Party (SDP) Alliance.

“We are angry because it is time to elect a president, but the two major political parties have not staked any position on pensions and long-term care policy, which will have huge effect on more than 20 million people,” said National Alliance for Workers of Closed Factories member Mao Chen-fei (毛振飛) said, adding that policy choices in both areas were critical as the nation’s population rapidly ages.

Activists said they would follow candidates “like a shadow,” escalating protests until they received a response, adding that they would hold a march the weekend prior to the elections.

DPP spokesperson Juan Chao-hsiung (阮昭雄) said that the party would instigate a reform project through organizing a pension reform commission consisting of academics and representatives from employers, employees and government agencies to research potential pension reform plans, hold a national conference to discuss the commission’s conclusions and make legislation according to the conclusions made by the conference.

As for long-term care policy, the DPP would seek to create quality, inexpensive, community-based long-term care system, while improving work conditions for carers, Juan said.

As for the improvement of overall working conditions, Juan said that the DPP would support workers’ right to solidarity and would boost prevention of work injuries, the liberalization of union organizations, as well as expand union representation.

“As for the [former] freeway toll collectors, the DPP legislative caucus has made several requests to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to shoulder its responsibilities, and has asked local governments headed by the DPP to help the former toll collectors find new jobs,” Juan said.

Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin

Taiwan Trade pact with China gift for elite: protesters

Trade pact a gift for elite: protesters

‘OUT OF WHACK’:Activists said Taiwan is dependent on China for a disproportionate 40 percent of its trade, and the focus should be on domestic competitiveness

By Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Demonstrators opposed to the cross-strait trade in goods agreement yesterday hold up a protest sign at the Grand Hotel in Taipei while negotiations are held inside.

Photo: CNA

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The trade in goods agreement being negotiated with China would benefit large corporations at the expense of farmers and small businesses, civic activists said yesterday, calling for talks to be halted.

About 20 protesters from 10 different civic groups gathered outside the entrance of Taipei’s Grand Hotel, lining up behind a long black banner condemning the talks. The hotel is the site for the latest round of talks, which began yesterday and are scheduled to conclude tomorrow.

Protesters shouted a series of slogans demanding that government negotiators not concede the interests of farmers and workers, shouting that negotiations should be halted until there was “democratic participation” and “civic unity.”

Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said that based on the government’s negotiating objectives, large corporations controlling the petrochemical, flat-panel display and automotive industries would be the major domestic beneficiaries of any agreement. Any Chinese concessions to the industries would be linked to opening up thousands of new product categories to Chinese imports, he said.

“The Ministry of Economic Affairs has stated that Taiwan would benefit disproportionally if tariff rates fall to zero, because China’s rates are higher than ours. What they do not say is that what China really cares about is the 22 percent of products for which we ban Chinese imports. China has not dared to sue us in the WTO because such a suit would represent a recognition of our sovereignty, but they are now trying to use the trade in goods talks to bring about the ‘normalization’ of trade,” he said.

The impact of “opening the door” would be “huge,” he said, potentially affecting processed agricultural goods, as well as the steel, textiles, electronics, electronic cabling, glass, ceramics and rubber industries.

“These are all tied closely with people’s livelihoods and any imports would harm grassroots labor, but the government has not let the public know the truth, much less given them the opportunity to influence the negotiations,” he said.

He said a mechanism should be established to allow small businesses to have the same access to government negotiators as large corporations, adding that any industries which benefit from a deal should be required to pay extra taxes to fund the “transition” of other industries.

“Taiwan is already reliant on China for more than 40 percent of its trade — which is ‘out of whack’ because we have basically put all of our eggs in a Chinese basket,” Radical Flank convener Chen Yi-chi (陳弈齊) said. “Given this, why in the world do we need to conduct further negotiations on trade in goods or services?”

“Pushing to open markets is not an economic policy program or industrial development program,” he said, adding that increasing the competitiveness of domestic products should take priority over efforts to cut trade barriers.

Meanwhile, about eight protesters from the Taiwan Solidary Union Youth Corps were escorted out of the Grand Hotel’s lobby by police after they charged in to protest the talks, yelling that the agricultural sector had to be protected from a clandestine trade in goods agreement.

Department of Youth Affairs director Chang Chao-lin (張兆林) said the government was playing “word games” with claims that it would not open the agricultural sector.
Restrictions on processed agricultural goods would likely be dropped, hurting farmers interests, he said.

My Opinion: The Eagle Never Hurts the Fly; Taiwan

    Ed. Note: This article was written before the reports of U.S. President Barack Obama bringing Taiwan's name up in his 'war on terror' against ISIS and 'their' mentioning of Taiwan as an enemy (see attachments below.) The Taipei Times, a supporter of the DPP's U.S. policy in Taiwan, applauded the "recognition of Taiwan in the global fight against terrorism."

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2015/11/24/2003633192
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2015/11/26/2003633348

U.S. President Obama put his foot in Taiwan's mouth the other day saying the U.S. and Taiwan are allies against ISIS. It is not true. The support Taiwan gives to the people in the Middle World is not to counter terrorism but to help victims of terrorism.

Taiwanese people must resist being used by the U.S. and their allies in clandestine purposes creating ISIS as a proxy to terrorize its own people. When President candidate Tsai Ying-Wen wins in January 2016, the danger of terrorism in Taiwan will get worse; the DPP may even use US 'proof' to blame China by insinuation.

 Liu Shih-Chung, President of the Taiwan Brain Trust, in wanting the KMT to "emulate the former DPP administration which supported then President George W. Bush's 'global war on terror" is suggesting Taiwan be put in danger by association. The last thing the people of Taiwan need is to be mentioned by the U.S. President and become entwined in the U.S. web of terrorism by proxy. 

     "The Eagle never hurts the fly." This applies to the dynamics of Taiwan's place between two superpowers, The United States and The People's Republic of China. Most Taiwanese are oblivious to the intentional media blurring of U.S. maleficent interests in Taiwan. Likewise, the positive intentions of the PRC for Taiwan are intentionally misinterpreted in most of the press. The U.S. tells Taiwan, "Don't move and no one gets hurt." 
     Taiwan is one of the safest places on earth, thanks to the US-PRC tug-of-war. There isn't a tug unless China asserts itself offshore. The ripples barely reach Taiwan. The rope is slack towards Taiwan with just enough play for its neo-liberal guardians, the KMT and DPP, to hang themselves in political jockeying for position. 
     The good people of Taiwan, caught in the grips of the Western economic crash of 2008, have no need to fear that the equilibrium will be disturbed; only the downturn in living standard and loss of jobs caused by it. Taiwan enjoys a liberal and safe society, a safety that people in both superpowers (and their proxy states) only dream of. 
     There has been no terrorism, homegrown or imported, in Taiwan since the end of the KMT's "white terror" and dictatorship in 1979. The inter-party bickering, all a show, cannot hide an imprisoned former president; a "red army" of hysterical populism purging Chen Shui-Bian for crimes he did not commit. 
    The police force in Taiwan is civil and understanding. Their job is to keep the peace. They do not, by policy, terrorize common people with brutal tactics and ear-splitting police car sirens, like we hear in U.S. cities. Police rarely use guns to shoot innocent victims or get involved in deadly high-speed car chases. In a civil dispute, or public drunkenness, police calm the situation down instead of making it worse. There is no racial profiling; every life matters.
     We in Taiwan are safe. This year we watched the ubiquitous TV news about the Tianjin fireball explosion in China, the U.S. fertilizer factory fires and train wrecks, Russian planes shooting and being shot down over the Middle World, the carnage in Syria, the collateral damage of war, multitudes of innocent bystanders, far away, and now the terrorism in Paris and Mali. The US and European allies blame the chaos on ISIS. None of those factors are felt in Taiwan. Our "sabotage" is our own accidents, like a gas pipeline explosion under the streets of Kaohsiung, or colored corn power engulfing youthful innocents in amusement park inferno, killing and injuring hundreds, with no accountability. They really are the product of local recklessness. 
     There have been no pro or anti-Muslim attacks in Taiwan, partly because there are few Muslim here, and because Taiwan does not send troops to the Middle World. ISIS has no issue with the government of Taiwan, and the US and China are not trying to destabilize us. 
     The only undercurrent of dissent is from under-employed students in the so-called "Sunflower Movement" who have a feeling that they are being had, but do not quite know by whom. Like the Occupy Wall Street activists, they know they have no future, but are distracted from blaming the right source of their oppression, ironically, the same oppressors of the people in the rest of the world; U.S. military-industrial complex.  
     Despite the compromise of neo-liberal two-party peace and pseudo-democracy, there is a line that the youth in Taiwan that came of age after dictatorship cannot cross. The KMT is still in power, openly. The DPP support of U.S. business-as-usual will be there when China gets too close. 
      Blame the U.S. for the missiles pointed at Taiwan from China. It is not the PRC's fault that the U.S. wants to renege on the United Nations agreement to give back the last piece of  China puzzled away by foreign powers in the 19th century. 
     What if a U.S. spy had not learned of President Chiang Ching-Kuo's nuclear weapons program in Taiwan in the '70's? Could Taiwan have been a booby-trap and keep itself truly independent from PRC and U.S. interference in the name of sovereignty for twenty-three million people? Look how North Korea is able to protect their people from exploitation from superpowers.

Yes, the most important news of November 2016 was the meeting between Presidents Ma Ying-Jeou of Taiwan and Xi Jun-Ping of the PRC. The English language press had a field day, taking the DPP's side. Tsai Ying-Wen, the DPP Presidential candidate, talked like President Ma gave her a burden to follow the One China policy, but the DPP is all talk; all they want is business-as-usual as a U.S. lackey; no talk of independence. 
     In this land of strange bedfellows, perhaps Ma is right to not wallow in the internal politics of Taiwan; to jump-start re-unification process with China. Despite his miserable economic record, reunification will get Taiwan out from the CIA’s mitts. The KMT and China must put a halt to the hegemonic monster gobbling Taiwan up, the U.S. using Taiwan as a hindrance against Chinese growth. Just because the U.S. defeated Japan in WW II, it doesn’t give it the right to dominate Asia, and the world, forever.

 “The Eagle Never Hurts the Fly.” The terrorist attack in Paris last week shows again how many parts of the world are susceptible to terrorist attacks; Taiwan is not one of them. Taiwan is merely a fly to the eagles of the world, in a cocoon between the US and PRC. It may change, one day, depending on how much the KMT can get away with unilateral rapprochement with China, but not for now. 
     Mao wouldn’t understand what is going on now in Taiwan and China, but in the struggle to keep its own identity and not be swallowed up by the West’s capitalist hegemonic web, the PRC has to seem like they are giving in a little to capitalism while keeping their finger on the internet for another destabilizing Tienanmen Square. The U.S. government should not delude itself into thinking that its hegemony is good for the world's future generations. Look at all the pollution and global warming, if you need a reminder. 
The US will do anything to keep Taiwan on the US side, even resort to agent provocateurs or create their own crisis here in their struggle to contain and blame China. Taiwanese must resist to have Taiwan's right to freely choose what is best for its own people. As former President Lee Tung-Hui said, neither the US nor China is Taiwan's father. 

Addendum: I can see someone from the CIA walking up to the President in the Oval Office with a slip of paper saying, "Hey, Barack; throw this line into your speech about Taiwan being allies with us. Don't let Ma and Xi think they're getting away with rapprochement. For good measure, Taiwan's flag will be added to the propaganda piece about ISIS enemies." Truth is stranger than fiction.

My Opinion: Paris in Taichung

 They protect themselves with banks made of marble with a guard at every door, so the desperate resort to the murder of innocent victims in frustration. Do terrorists harbor some ridiculous hope that public pressure will make our corrupted governments change their mind about forcing their economic will on the world? No; it is just revenge and frustration

Go to Taichung Journal at:

http://taichungjournal.blogspot.tw/2015/11/paris-in-taichung.html

Majority of employees in Taiwan fear taking time off: survey

2015/11/07 15:45:47

Taipei, Nov. 7 (CNA) A majority of employees in Taiwan are afraid to take time off from work because of fears it would make their bosses unhappy, according to a survey.

Citing the results of the survey released Friday, online job bank yes123 said 63.6 percent of respondents admitted that they feared taking days off too often because they were afraid their absences would lead their supervisors to downgrade their performance evaluations.

Forty percent of respondents said they faced difficulties getting approval from their bosses to take leave, and a large majority still had leave available, the survey found.

A total of 83.5 percent of respondents said they have not taken any or only some of their annual leave for this year, even though 2015 has nearly come to an end, the survey found.

Some 60 percent of respondents who still have annual leave available said they were too busy and did not have time to take it, and 34.2 percent worried that taking vacation would interrupt their work and put them behind schedule on the job.

About a quarter of respondents (24.4 percent) said they feared taking lengthy annual leaves would make their employers unhappy, while 20.2 percent feared they would get a poor year-end evaluation after taking a long vacation, the survey found.

As for what they did on their vacations, 49.9 percent of respondents said they traveled within Taiwan while 40.5 percent said they traveled overseas, 49.3 percent said they took time off to deal with personal matters, and 44.1 percent said rested at home.

Yes123 spokesman Yang Tsung-pin (楊宗斌) suggested that employees not take annual leave during their companies' peak business seasons and that they complete their work ahead of schedule before taking long annual leaves.

The survey, conducted from Oct. 20 to Oct. 30, collected 1,274 valid questionnaires and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.75 percentage points.

(By Chiu Po-sheng and Frances Huang)

Taiwan/China Leaders Meeting; The Inevitable, not the Enviable

See my comments on the meeting between Taiwan President Ma Ying-Jyou  and China's Premiere Xi Jun-Ping at the following link:

http://indydaiwan228.blogspot.tw/2015/11/the-inevitable-not-enviable.html

Minister calls for reform on retiree pension subsidy

Staff writer, with CNA

The government spends NT$80 billion (US$2.46 billion) per year to subsidize preferential interest rates for the retirement accounts of some public employees, Minister of Civil Service Chang Che-shen (張哲琛) said, adding that reforms are needed.

Chang said the 18 percent rate paid on parts of the special savings accounts of retired civil servants, military personnel and public-school teachers dwarfs the standard interest rate of about 1 percent most people receive.

The difference between the interest rates is paid for by the government.

“No matter who takes power, they will have to face the issue of pension reform,” Chang said on the sidelines of a legislative hearing on Monday, referring to the presidential and legislative elections set for Jan. 16 next year.

He said that pension reform is the consensus of society and the consensus of the governing Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party.

As of the end of 2013, 440,000 retirees had total savings of NT$458 billion that benefited from the 18 percent preferential interest rate, costing the government NT$81.56 billion in subsidies, or about NT$3,500 per capita.

The system is bound to cost the government a substantial amount in the near and medium-term future, as people who were public employees before 1995 are eligible to receive the subsidy.

A new pension system launched in 1995 canceled the benefit for civil servants, military personnel and public school teachers hired in 1995 or later.

An estimated 420,000 retired public employees enjoy the benefit today, and about 400,000 public employees who are still working are also eligible for the preferential interest rates once they retire.

Coalition calls for easing union limits

WORKERS UNITE:The Ministry of Labor said it would consider lowering the 30-employee threshold to form a company union, but reject calls for the right to strike

By Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Labor rights advocates perform a skit outside the Ministry of Labor in Taipei yesterday, accusing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party of restricting the power of labor unions during their time in office.

Photo: Huang Pang-ping, Taipei Times

Restrictions should be dropped to allow unions to serve as a strong independent political voice, a coalition of labor rights campaigners said yesterday in a protest outside the Ministry of Labor in Taipei.

Campaigners from the Labor Struggle Front, an alliance of labor groups, enacted a skit depicting people being wrapped in layers of blue-and-green paper, symbolizing what they called attempts by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party to limit union independence, while seeking to infiltrate and control unions.

“Workers do not have a voice in Taiwanese society because we’ve been restricted — there is a hand on our neck which does not let us utter a sound,” National Alliance for Workers of Closed Factories member Lu Chih-hung (盧其宏) said, referring to the lack of the right to strike, which he said has prevented workers’ voices from being heard on major political issues.

Wu Chia-hung (吳嘉浤), another alliance member, said strikes can only by conducted by company unions on an individual basis when salary negotiations break down.

Unions are banned from coordinating industrywide or politically focused strikes, he said.

Taipei City Confederation of Trade Unions chairman Cheng Ya-hui (鄭雅慧) said that restrictions on coordinating general strikes limited confederations to serving as advisers to individual company unions.

Only with the power to coordinate strikes can the confederation direct resources and personnel to support individual company strikes, she said.

Activists added that union membership threshold requirements should be eased to allow employees of small firms to be organized so long as a third join the company union.

Current rules require at least 30 employees to join before a company union can be organized.

Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions chairman Chuang Fu-kai (莊福凱) said that workers lack national influence because of low union membership, which in turn can be attributed to the lack of unions in small and medium-sized firms.

Such firms make up 70 percent of all companies, activists said.

The requirement that unions include at least 30 employees makes it impossible to form unions in small and medium-sized firms, which average only 4.6 workers, Chuang said.

Industries that do not have unions include dangerous occupations, such as construction, Taiwan Association for Victims of Occupation Injuries president Yu Chi-wen (游其文) said.

Assisting workers involved in occupational injury disputes in firms that do not have unions is difficult because only unions are legally entitled to participate in injury investigations, along with the government and the corporation, he said.

The Ministry of Labor said it would consider lowering the 30-employee threshold as part of revisions to the Labor Union Act (工會法), while rejecting the possibility of allowing general strikes.

The right to strike is only meant to allow workers to fight for improvements to their contractual working terms, it said, adding that few nations allow politically motivated general strikes.

Surveys come up with different average salary figures

PUBLIC VERSuS PRIVATE:The average monthly income, as recorded in two polls, shows that most people are not able to save enough to reach their five-year financial goals

Staff writer, with CNA

The monthly pay for more than 50 percent of employees in Taiwan is less than NT$40,000, a non-governmental poll showed yesterday, while a government survey released the same day found that average monthly salary is NT$50,633.

According to the poll by psychological counseling group the Teacher Chang Foundation and the Citigroup Foundation, 53 percent of workers earn less than NT$40,000 per month and rated their satisfaction with their financial situation at 6 on a 10-point scale.

The government survey, released earlier in the day, showed the average monthly wage for the first eight months of the year was NT$50,633.

Most of the respondents in the non-governmental poll indicated that despite their small paychecks, they wanted to find ways to manage their money so that they could attain five-year goals like travel, studying overseas, getting married or starting a family.

However, most respondents said that the achievement of such goals would require savings of at least NT$21,295 per month on average, more than 42 percent of their total income, according to the poll.

It showed that 34 percent of employees estimated they would need monthly savings of NT$25,633 to meet their goals, an amount that they thought was beyond their reach.

The savings of most survey respondents range between NT$5,000 and NT$10,000 a month, while 26 percent said they are able to set aside NT$20,000 per month, according to the poll.

Time deposits and savings-oriented insurance policies are the two most popular means of savings for the majority respondents, the poll showed.

Teacher Chang Foundation chairman Chang Te-chung (張德聰) said people should learn how to manage their income and spending.

Protesters call for action on contract workers

TEMPORARY HIRINGS:Demonstrators questioned the government’s refusal to allow long-term contract workers to accrue seniority and arbitrary dismissals

By Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Protesters lie down on the street to form Chinese characters that read, “Give back annual salary” outside the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration in Taipei yesterday. They are protesting at what they feel are unfair work contracts.

Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times

All long-term government contract workers should be made regular employees and compensated for lost seniority, labor rights advocates said yesterday, in a protest outside the Ministry of the Interior.

Rights campaigners wearing white masks blocked off a road outside the ministry and lay on the ground to spell out the Chinese characters for “Give back annual salary” with their bodies, referring to renumeration that comes with seniority.

They said the white masks symbolized the silencing of government contract workers.

“The government presses on the throats of long-term contract workers and says that if they dare to come forward and fight for their rights, they will not have a job next year,” National Alliance for Workers of Closed Factories member Wu Jing-ru (吳靜如) said, referring to former freeway toll collectors and National Taxation Bureau employees.

Former toll collectors composed the bulk of the protesters, with a number of unions also sending representatives.

Campaigners lying on the roadside covered themselves in orange cloth, the same color as the uniforms of the former toll workers, who were laid off two years ago after a nationwide system of electronic eTag toll collections took effect.

Former Freeway Toll Collectors Self-Help Organization president Sun Hsiu-luan (孫秀鑾) said that because toll workers were employed on annual contracts, they did not accumulate seniority no matter how long they were employed, sharply reducing the value of the severance pay to which they were entitled.

The laid-off workers had been employed for 13-and-a-half years on average, she said.

Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions chairman Chuang Fu-kai (莊福凱) questioned the legality of the government’s refusal to allow long-term contract workers to accrue seniority, stating that the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) stipulates that workers can be considered “temporary” workers only when they are employed short-term or seasonally.

Anyone employed for more than one year is considered a long-term employee under the act, he said.

Taipei City Confederation of Trade Unions board of supervisors convener Chiang Wan-chin (蔣萬金) said that contract employees are often fired arbitrarily following elections to allow supporters to be awarded positions.

In a later protest outside Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters, Former Freeway Toll Collectors Self-Help Organization members said the DPP has been unresponsive to their demands, refusing to take a position on reforming the government’s handling of contract hiring and failing to follow up on promises to find jobs for former toll collectors within DPP-controlled governments.

Sun said that although DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had promised that positions would be found for the former toll collectors following last year’s elections, only one out of the more than 300 ex-collectors has been given a job.