Service workers not receiving Typhoon holidays: protesters

By Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Typhoon holidays should be included within the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) to raise awareness of workers’ rights, labor activists said yesterday, adding that many service workers are still forced to go to work despite regulatory guidelines.

“While regulatory guidelines mandate that employers are not allowed to do a number of things, most employers and workers are not aware of the rules. They need to be placed within the Labor Standards Act before employers will pay attention,” Youth Labor Union 95 president Catta Chou (周于萱) said.

Unlike the “national holidays” and “mandatory days off” defined by the Labor Standards Act, “typhoon days” are rooted in regulatory guidelines which mandate that employers cannot require employees to work on declared “typhoon days,” and also forbid the docking of salaries or requiring makeup work.

Labor rights advocates contend that the guidelines are often ignored, particularly in the service sector — where workers are often pressured to work to enable department stores to take advantage of “typhoon day” crowds that turn up when winds are lower than expected.

A group of activists, including Chou, on Tuesday night marched through the Zhongxiao (忠孝) branch of the Pacific Sogo Department Store shouting slogans to protest what they said were widespread violations.

“Stores use fines to require workers to come in on typhoon days. Being absent from your post for just an hour can cost you NT$2,000 and fines just keep piling up from there. Given that clerks earn a little more than NT$1,000 a day, how can they afford these fines,” Chou said.

She called for “typhoon days” to be included within the Labor Standards Act’s definition of “mandatory holidays” entitling workers to double pay and a compensatory day off if they work.

Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment Deputy Director Huang Wei-chen (黃維琛) said the ministry typically receives between 10 and 20 reports of regulatory guideline violations for every typhoon, which are passed on to local government authorities charged with enforcement.