Jobless rate down as economy recovers

CAUTIOUS:Despite the monthly decline, the jobless rate increased slightly from a year earlier, reflecting a conservative hiring policy, the DGBAS said in a report

By Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The nation’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.95 percent, down 0.04 percentage points from September, as more recent graduates found jobs amid an economic recovery, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

The jobless rate this month might decline further if the economy continues to improve, encouraging businesses to increase staff numbers, the DGBAS said in a report, adding that TransAsia Airways Corp’s (復興航空) decision to dissolve the company might affect the job market after the closure comes into effect.

“Unemployment eased last month as the local job market recovered from the entry of fresh graduates,” DGBAS senior executive officer Pan Ning-hsin (潘寧馨) said.

After seasonal adjustments, the unemployment rate stood at 3.9 percent, down 0.03 percentage points from the previous month, the DGBAS said.

The number of unemployed people last month fell by 5,000 from a month earlier to 464,000, while the number of first-time job seekers dropped by 3,000 in the same period, it said.

Fewer people last month lost their jobs owing to business closures, downsizing or temporary hiring compared with the previous month, the DGBAS said.

Despite the monthly improvement, the jobless rate slightly increased compared with a year earlier, reflecting a conservative hiring policy on the part of businesses, it said.

For the first 10 months of this year, the unemployment rate stood at 3.94 percent, up 0.18 percentage points from the same period a year earlier, the DGBAS said.

JOBLESS GRADUATES

Unemployment was highest among people who have university degrees or higher at 4.91 percent, followed by people with college diplomas at 4.28 percent, it added.

The jobless rate stood at 3.91 percent for people with high-school diplomas and at 3.05 percent for people with at most a junior-high school education, it said.

The jobless rate was highest for people in the 15-to-24 age bracket at 12.44 percent, followed by the 25-to-29 age group at 6.79 percent, the DGBAS said.

People aged between 45 and 64 had the lowest unemployment rate at 2.12 percent, it said.

The figures show that young Taiwanese with college education had more difficulty finding jobs compared with other groups, it added.

In related news, monthly take-home wages averaged NT$39,135 (US$1,225) in September, an increase of 0.99 percent from a year earlier, the DGBAS said in a separate report.

INCHING UP

The average monthly wage, including bonuses and other compensation, was NT$45,205 in September, an increase of 1 percent from a year earlier, the report showed.

In the first nine months of the year, take-home wages rose 1.33 percent to an average of NT$39,144 per month, while average salaries fell 0.24 percent to NT$50,097, as companies distributed fewer bonuses, the report said.

TransAsia abruptly halts flights- shuts down

TransAsia abruptly halts flights

IN DENIAL:When people unable to book tickets with TransAsia began to suspect serious problems, the airline at first refused to admit it was planning to suspend flights

By Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Aircraft stand outside a TransAsia Airways hangar at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) yesterday.

Photo: CNA

The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) yesterday confirmed that TransAsia Airways (復興航空) is to suspend services for one day today, adding that the airline could be fined up to NT$3 million (US$93,750) for halting flights without seeking prior approval.

CAA Deputy Director-General Fang Chih-wen (方志文) said that the administration had not known that TransAsia planned to suspend services until it received a telephone call from the airline yesterday afternoon, adding that the company had not submitted an application requesting the cessation.

The company also did not explain during the phone conversation with the administration why it had taken the decision, he said.

This is probably the first time that a domestic airline has halted flights without the CAA’s approval, he said, adding that the company has contravened the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法).

“We have officially notified the airline that it needs to address the situation, or it will be fined between NT$600,000 and NT$3 million,” he said, adding that the airline has also been told to properly handle the refunds of tickets for today’s flights.

Agency statistics show that TransAsia’s unexpected move is estimated to affect more than 5,000 passengers on 56 domestic flights, 12 international flights and 16 cross-strait flights.

Far Eastern Air Transport (遠航) also suspended flights to Cambodia without giving notification, the agency said.

The Tourism Bureau said that TransAsia’s move would affect 3,000 tour group travelers, both those scheduled to return home and those planning to travel abroad.

The CAA official met with the representatives of other Taiwanese airlines yesterday to request their assistance in taking on passengers previously booked to fly with TransAsia, Fang said.

Asked whether TransAsia’s suspension of services would continue, Fang said that it would depend on the results of a board meeting today.

TransAsia yesterday morning at first denied public suspicions that it would suspend services, following multiple reports from members of the public that they were unable to book tickets with the airline, saying its ticketing system was not working.

Founded in 1951, TransAsia has been struggling to stay in the black after two crashes, in July 2014 and February last year.

The company is estimated to have paid close to NT$1.2 billion in settlements to the victims of those accidents and their families.

TransAsia in August announced that its subsidiary, low-cost carrier V Air (威航), would suspend operations from Oct. 4 through Oct. 3 next year.

The Taiwan Stock Exchange approved TransAsia’s request to suspend share trading ahead of material information disclosure.

TranAsia would need to complete an application and approval procedures to resume trading, the exchange said.

The bourse fined the company NT$1 million for breaking rules governing material information disclosure after it canceled a news conference scheduled for yesterday evening and instead issued a statement.

TransAsia shares yesterday fell 7.14 percent to NT$5.2 in Taipei trading, with the sell-off quickening in pace toward noon. Turnover surged to 10.74 million shares, compared with 398,000 shares in the previous session.

TransAsia shuts down

COMPANY CRASHES:The firm’s chairman blamed the declining number of Chinese visitors, rising fuel prices and a strengthening US dollar for its steep losses

By Ted Chen and Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporters

Left to right, TransAsia Airways chief executive officer Liu Tung-ming, chairman Vincent Lin and spokesman Liu Chung-chi bow at a news conference in Taipei yesterday as they apologize for the company’s collapse.

Photo: CNA

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TransAsia Airways (復興航空) yesterday said it is to dissolve the company after its attempts to keep it afloat failed.

The company looked at options, including a sale, restructuring and capital injections, during three meetings between its board of directors and industry experts, TransAsia Airways chief executive officer Liu Tung-ming (劉東明) told a news conference at the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

“Despite our best efforts to devise a new business model, the company could not produce an effective turnaround plan to repair its deteriorating finances,” Liu said.

The airline said it is unable to repay US$75 million in European convertible bonds due on Tuesday next week.

The company’s net worth was estimated at about NT$5.44 billion (US$170.29 million), or a book value of NT$7.17 per share, as of the end of last month, TransAsia vice president Chen I-chieh (陳逸潔) said.

The airline operated 27 routes in Taiwan, China and the rest of Asia, each representing about a third of total sales, Chen said.

In the first three quarters, the company racked up losses of NT$2.2 billion, Liu said.

TransAsia chairman Vincent Lin (林明昇) blamed the declining number of Chinese visitors, as well as rising fuel prices and a strengthening US dollar, for the company’s steep losses.

TransAsia’s load factor had fallen to about 60 percent, which was well below its domestic peers’ and unsustainable, Lin said.

TransAsia shares are to resume trading today following yesterday’s suspension, but trading would be conducted on a full-cash delivery basis, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said.

At a news conference held jointly with the heads of government agencies yesterday, the Cabinet said that the impact of the airline’s closure would be limited and the company has enough cash to refund customers and cover severance pay.

An estimated 100,000 travelers are affected by the unexpected folding of the nation’s first commercial airline, but other carriers have capacity to take on passengers booked to fly with TransAsia as it is the off-season, Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) Air Transport Division director Han Chen-hua (韓振華) said.

TransAsia has created a trust fund to ensure that customers get a full refund on booked flights, and the company will not dismiss ticketing and customer service staff until Dec. 20, so that they can assist in the transfer of passengers to other airlines, the firm said.

The CAA formed a special task force immediately after TransAsia announced a temporary suspension of operations on Monday to ensure that travelers’ rights are protected, Fan said.

The CAA is to impose a fine of between NT$600,000 and NT$3 million on TransAsia for halting flights without seeking prior approval.

The CAA has conducted regular financial inspections on TransAsia, and the company still holds more than NT$1 billion in cash and is not facing an immediate financial crisis, Han said.

TransAsia has 1,735 employees and they are covered by labor insurance, while there is NT$310 million in the company’s pension fund account, Deputy Minister of Labor Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said.

“The money is more than enough to pay employees’ pensions and the remaining amount can be used to cover severance pay,” Kuo said.

The FSC and prosecutors have launched an inspection into possible insider trading in the company’s shares, and it has yet to be determined whether company executives were involved, commission vice chairman Huang Tien-mu (黃天牧) said.

The Taiwan Stock Exchange on Aug. 15 listed TransAsia as financially unstable, to warn investors of the risk involved in trading the company’s shares, Huang said.

Campaigners for labor rights stage morning protests

By Cheng Hung-ta and Su Fang-ho  /  Staff reporters

Several youth groups yesterday protest outside the Presidential Office Building against the government’s proposal to abolish seven national holidays.

Photo: CNA

Protests were staged early yesterday morning outside the president’s residence and the Presidential Office Building by a group of young labor rights campaigners upset by the government’s proposal to cut seven national holidays.

The protests came just hours after a marathon 13-hour review session at the Legislative Yuan on Thursday that lasted until 10pm before proposed amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) were sent on to the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committe.

Labor groups staged a sit-in for about an hour outside President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) residence before moving to near the Presidential Office Building.

They called on Tsai to stop the amendments that would reduce national holidays from clearing the legislature.

Presidential Office spokesperson Alex Huang (黃重諺) said the proposed amendments are being processed in the legislature and different views are to be respected.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government’s proposed amendments to the Labor Standards Act call for reducing number of national holidays from 19 to 12 and “one flexible rest day and one fixed day off” every seven days, which are to accommodate the change from the schedule of 84 working hours over a two-week period to a 40-hour workweek passed during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.

Labor groups and opposition parties are against the reduced holidays and the “one flexible rest day and one fixed day off” proposals, saying “rest days” could easily be used by the employers as extra working days because they are not like “fixed days off,” which under current regulations do not allow working except for circumstances such as natural disasters and emergencies.

The amendments would lead to an increase in total working hours, they say.

The committee resolved to have most of the amendments discussed in additional cross-caucus negotiations before being put on the legislative floor agenda for final readings.

The New Power Party (NPP), which had insisted on “two fixed days off” every seven days, on Thursday altered its motion to propose allowing working rest days with better overtime pay and guaranteed overtime compensatory leave.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers continued to insist on “two fixed days off,” while Minister of Labor Kuo Fong-yu (郭芳煜) said that the “one rest day and one day off” system would be more flexible than the “two fixed days off” schedule.

Motions to amend Article 37 concerning the number of holidays were also sent for negotiations, but at the request of KMT lawmakers, the committee conducted a vote, with seven DPP lawmakers voting for a reduction while three KMT lawmakers and one NPP lawmaker were against it.

Other motions that need cross-caucus negotiations include one to increase the penalties for employers’ violations such as failing to pay minimum wage and overworking employees, which were deemed too lenient to deter employers from choosing to pay fines instead of abiding by the law.

A few amendments were passed without further negotiations, including a resolution that workers should be granted at least a full 11-hour rest period between shifts.

DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) on late Thursday said that he expects the amendments, including those that require cross-caucus negotiations, to clear the legislative floor before the end of the year.

Lee Teng-hui presents views on political scene

TSAI TRIPS URGED:The former president said that he did not know much about the ‘new southbound policy,’ but said Tsai Ing-wen should visit nations in the region

By Chang Mao-sen, Chung Li-hua and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporters in Tokyo and Taipei, with staff writer

A copy of yesterday’s edition of the Sankei Shimbun, which features an interview with former president Lee Teng-hui, is pictured in Tokyo yesterday.

Photo: CNA

President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration lacks courage and decisiveness, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said in an exclusive interview with Japan’s Sankei Shimbun, in which he presented his views on international politics and cross-strait affairs.

The interview was published by the newspaper in Tokyo yesterday.

Lee said that while US intentions for the region remain unclear with US president-elect Donald Trump to take office in January, it is clear that should Trump implement isolationist policies, Japan’s role in regional politics would lend more weight to Tokyo’s decisions.

This highlights the importance of Taiwan-Japan cooperation and the “need to strengthen Taiwan-Japan ties,” Lee said.

Lee said he has not changed his stance on cross-strait affairs that “Taiwan is Taiwan and China is China; Taiwan is not Chinese territory,” adding that Tsai’s steady dip in popular support is in part due to the “distance” between her administration’s cross-strait policies that still maintain the “status quo” and the cross-strait policy that Taiwanese want.

Lee said he expects that the Tsai administration will “incrementally lead the nation to normalization” and understand that its governance “must handle whatever may happen [between Taiwan and] China.”

Lee said that “a leader’s most important qualities are courage and decisiveness,” and that the Tsai administration’s problems with judicial, pension and labor reform were because of a lack of these qualities.

Lee said he did not know much about the “new southbound policy,” but said that it is important for Tsai to visit the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and other Southeast Asian nations and make known what Taiwan has to offer.

Lee said that Tsai lacks people in the government who can “truly help her,” adding that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was “a complex amalgamation of factions and families” that might make policy implementation difficult.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) could only parrot the “one China” principle when she visited China and she dared say nothing else, which is a sign that the KMT is struggling to regain its status and the party might find it impossible to survive, Lee said.

Presidential Office spokesperson Alex Huang (黃重諺) said that Lee had done much to help Taiwan to become the modern and liberal nation it is and the Tsai administration is grateful for the suggestions he made.

The government will be pushing for multiple reforms in the hope of living up to Taiwanese expectations, Huang said.

Meanwhile, a DPP source said that Lee had not taken into consideration changes in the political environment, adding that the current situation is not like the transition away from authoritarian governance.

Important policies, such as pension and judicial reform, affect people’s rights, as well as industrial and social structures, the source said, adding that nothing can be done without communication.

Lee spokesman Wang Yan-chun (王燕軍) said that some news outlets might have taken the former president’s comments out of context.

Lee has been a long-time supporter of Tsai and has said that “criticism will not help; those with the wherewithal should actively help her,” Wang said.

According to Wang, Lee said that Tsai should be more straightforward about policies and not influenced by popularity polls.

The Tsai administration would not have simultaneously addressed so many issues that have led to confrontation if it did not intend to act, Wang said, adding that the government must follow through with its ambitions.

Additional reporting by CNA

BCC given three months to return two FM frequencies

By Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC) has been given three months to hand back to the government two FM frequencies, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.

The BCC’s Formosa Network (寶島網) and i-Radio Network (音樂網) have been used to counter Chinese Communist Party propaganda.

Their frequencies are now to be used for two new national networks, one for Hakka speakers and one for the Aborigines, which will be run by the Hakka Affairs Council and the Indigenous People Cultural Foundation respectively, commission spokesperson Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.

BCC will still be the largest radio broadcast in the nation, with one nationwide FM network and two AM networks to reach its listeners nationwide, Wong said.

When BCC chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), a former Chinese Nationalist Party and New Party politician and former president of UFO Radio, acquired the BCC in 2007, he promised to return the two frequencies to the government once it had reassigned them for other uses, Wong said.

That condition was met when the Executive Yuan on Aug. 16 said the frequencies would be used to build a national Hakka-language network and one dedicated to the nation’s Aborigines, he said.

BCC now has three months to adjust its program lineup, reshuffle the personnel who work for the Formosa and i-Radio networks and inform its listeners of the changes, he said.

The commission has already issued permits to the council and the foundation, which are expected to spend three to six months organizing their stations, Wong said.

The Executive Yuan has suggested that the council and the foundation share facilities with other state-run stations, including the Police Radio Station and the National Education Station.

Andy Hsieh (謝煥乾), director of the council’s Department of Legal Affairs, said Jaw was informed several times last year and this year that he needed to prepare for the return of the two frequencies.

Although the commission had approved the BCC’s license renewal application on June 30, it included a conditional clause reserving the right to cancel the licenses for the Formosa and i-Radio networks, Hsieh said.

The BCC on July 27 filed an appeal of the clause with the Executive Yuan, but the Executive Yuan’s appeal department is very likely to rule in favor of NCC, Hsieh said.

NCC Department of Broadcasting and Contents Director Huang Ching-yi (黃金益) said the commission has consulted experts who said that based on the UN Declarations on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples and the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law (原住民族基本法) and Hakka Basic Act (客家基本法), the government has not been allocating sufficient cultural resources for Hakka and Aborigines.

“Experts said that the government should be in sync with the other nations in its efforts to preserve the languages of minorities. The Hakkas have five distinct dialects and there are 16 Aboriginal communities in Taiwan,” Huang said. “The Aborigines, in particular, have only oral language and do not have written languages. Television networks dedicated to the broadcast of the Aboriginal languages are not enough when it comes to preservation of the languages. Radio stations could go further in preserving these languages, as evidenced by the radio stations in Australia and New Zealand.”

NCC defends stripping BCC of two frequencies

By Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday defended its decision to ask the Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC) to return two FM radio frequencies, saying the BCC had promised to return the frequencies and is not using them in the public’s interest.

The commission on Wednesday announced that the BCC had three months to return the nationwide frequencies used by Formosa Network (寶島網) and i-Radio Network (音樂網).

The government no longer supports blocking the broadcast of Chinese propaganda, so it wants the frequencies back, which the BCC had promised to do, the commission said.

BCC chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) has repeatedly been told that he should be ready to return the two frequencies once they were reassigned, and when the BCC’s operating license was renewed on June 30, a clause was inserted reserving the right to cancel the licenses for the Formosa and i-Radio networks, the commission said.

The frequencies are to be used for two new national radio networks, one for Hakka speakers and the other for Aborigines, the commission said.

The BCC late on Wednesday night issued a statement calling the commission’s demand an example of “political persecution” targeting media outlets that have different political views from the government.

The commission is using the ruling to suppress press freedom and broadcasting rights, the BCC said.

The Executive Yuan’s appeal committee ruled in favor of the company in 2010 when it canceled a similar conditional clause in the license renewal application for that year, the broadcaster said.

The 2010 conditional clause had created uncertainty about the BCC’s operations and reduced the actual benefits gained from having its license renewed, it said.

Yet the commission has disrespected the appeal committee’s decision by attaching a conditional clause to this year’s company’s license renewal application, the BCC said, calling the move evidence of outright contempt and a violation of administrative principles.

The BCC said it was the only one of the 23 stations allocated frequencies to block communist propaganda from China, including Police Radio Station, Taipei Broadcasting Station, Kaohsiung Broadcasting Station, International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT) and Fu Hsing Broadcasting Station, to be told it must hand the frequencies back.

The government should first evaluate how all these frequencies have been used before deciding which ones should be returned, it said.

The government’s plan to release a new batch of radio licenses shows the nation still has frequencies to build new stations for Hakka speakers and for Aborigines, the company said.

The commission has disregarded the Executive Yuan’s authority in reviewing the appeal, as the Executive Yuan’s appeal committee is still reviewing an appeal request the company filed on June 27, the BCC said.

It said it would legally defend its networks.

The commission yesterday issued a detailed response, saying the decision to take back the two frequencies was made when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was in office and was aimed at helping Hakkas and Aborigines preserve their cultures and has nothing to do with press freedom.

The BCC was the only private radio station given frequencies that could be used to block Chinese propaganda; the others, including ICRT, are either state-run or serve public interests, the commission said.

“It has been almost 10 years since the company promised to return the frequency. It should already have a withdrawal mechanism in place, and it is really inappropriate to resist the administrative order through spurious reasons,” the commission said.

DPP proposes cutting officers’ pensions

‘CHILLING EFFECT’:China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said the DPP administration was ‘oppressing’ Taiwanese attending cross-straits events in an effort to cool relations

By Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang addresses a routine news conference in Beijing yesterday.

Photo: CNA

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday proposed an amendment that would cancel pensions for retired civil servants and military personnel who participate in political activities in China, as more details emerged about former military officers attending an event in Beijing last week that featured a policy address by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).

The amendment would revoke pensions for retired military officers engaging in political activities in China, as their behavior could imperil national security and seriously erode the morale and loyalty of active-service personnel, DPP legislators Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) and Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said at a news conference.

Seven retired generals, 12 former lieutenant generals and 18 retired major generals attended the event in Beijing commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Republic of China founder Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), Chen said, citing information provided by the National Security Bureau.

The updated figure was greater than the list of 32 retired officers provided two days ago, which included retired lieutenant general Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), and former generals Wang Wen-hsieh (王文燮) and Hsia Ying-chou (夏瀛洲), he added.

“These retired high-ranking officers have violated provisions of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) against engaging in political activities in China,” Chen said.

“We have asked the Ministry of National Defense and the Mainland Affairs Council to investigate whether these retired officers have participated in similar events and whether the Chinese government provided them with subsidies, which could include travel expenses, meals and accommodation,” he added.

A recently released video of the event — at which Xi delivered a speech warning against Taiwanese “separatism” — shows the retired officers standing at attention and singing the Chinese national anthem along with Chinese political and military elites, Chuang said.

“We must deal with this matter now by cutting off their pensions,” Chuang said. “The image of these retired generals singing the Chinese national anthem are painful to all Taiwanese and is demoralizing to troops who are protecting the nation.”

The act prohibits individuals, organizations and registered foundations from engaging in any cooperative or political activity organized by Chinese officials, organizations or military personnel, Chuang said.

“The law currently only allows for a fine as punishment, so we will work toward amending regulations to cancel retirement pay for violators,” he added.

When asked to comment at a routine news conference in Beijing yesterday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) said some DPP members are stalwart supporters of Taiwanese independence and have sought to incite hostility and confrontation across the Taiwan Strait through political means.

“The DPP administration’s oppression of Taiwanese attending cross-strait events is clearly designed to have a chilling effect on cross-strait relations,” Ma said.

DPP spokesman David Huang (黃適卓) later issued a statement rejecting Ma’s criticism, saying: “The conduct of retired military officers, who gave no consideration to their special status and took part in a Chinese Communist Party event promoting unification, is unacceptable to the public, especially as they stood at attention during the playing of the Chinese national anthem.”

“How is [public disgust with their conduct] a chilling effect?” Huang asked.

It is imperative that soldiers, including retired military personnel, remain loyal to the nation and protect national security,” he added.

Additional reporting by Chen Wei-han

Sunflower items handed over to museum of history

By Liu Wan-chun and William Hetherington  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Representatives from Academia Sinica and the National Museum of Taiwan History on Monday hold posters at a ceremony at the museum in Tainan to mark the handover of artifacts from the 2014 Sunflower movement.

Photo: Liu Wan-chun, Taipei Times

Items related to the 2014 Sunflower movement on Monday were given to the National Museum of Taiwan History in Tainan for preservation after two years of being sorted by Academia Sinica researchers.

The Sunflower movement refers to protesters who occupied the Legislative Yuan’s main chamber from the night of March 18 to April 10 to protest the-then Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s handling of the cross-strait service trade agreement.

About 7,200 items were gathered for the collection, including a duty log from the Ministry of the Interior recording its activities at the time and digital media files related to the movement, the museum said.

The “precious cultural relics” will be stored, added to the permanent collection and researched thoroughly to be shared with future generations, the museum said.

Other items in the collection include sticky notes with words of encouragement left by supporters, letters written by protesters, slogan banners, posters, records of announcements and written statements, said Academia Sinica Institute of Taiwan History director Hsieh Kuo-hsing (謝國興), who handed the collection over to museum director Margaret Wang (王長華).

Ministry of Culture Department of Cultural Resources head Chen Teng-chin (陳登欽) was at the handover event.

Given the tremendous quantity of items in the collection, it took two years to clean, organize and shelve them all, the museum said, adding that it used digital data to help with sorting.

Wang said that “today is tomorrow’s history,” adding that we should “preserve today’s tides of thought for future generations, so that they can understand how we made decisions.”

Wang said she hopes the Sunflower items will be preserved and made available for research.

Two years ago Academia Sinica itemized the artifacts and posted them on the collection’s Web site, (http://public.318.io) the museum said, adding that it is calling on netizens to help identify sticky notes, protest banners and written statements.

At the time of the Sunflower movement, many people were glued to their computer screen watching updates as events unfolded, Chen said, adding that in the future the museum will be challenged to not only collect physical artifacts, but also those from the digital world.

The museum on Monday held an informal discussion inviting the Academia Sinica research team who worked on the collection, broadcasters and authors to speak with museum curators about the preservation and research of items from current events, and about the “new interactive relationship” between the museum and society.

Wang Hsin-yun (王信允), who headed the research team, said that Academia Sinica is not the ideal place to store cultural artifacts, adding that he appreciates the support of academics who helped transfer the collection to the museum.

Wang said that he is happy that the public could be brought onboard with the identification and annotation of the items.

Sunflower movement spokesman Shih I-lun (施懿倫) said it is fortunate that the collection could be saved from damage by the elements and even studied by academics.

“In comparison, items from Hong Kong’s ‘Umbrella movement’ were saved by members of the Hong Kong public,” Shih said, adding that he hopes Taiwan and Hong Kong can cooperate on preservation and research of items from protest movements.

Axed holidays should be long weekends, union says

By Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

National holidays slated for elimination as part of labor reforms should instead become monthly long weekends, members of the Economic Democracy Union said yesterday.

“We hope that this idea might resolve the ongoing controversy,” said union executive secretary Chen Guan-yu (陳冠宇), who protested outside the Presidential Office Building with a handful of other demonstrators.

“This could kill two birds with one stone: protecting the interests of workers while helping local economic development,” he said, adding that workers have only seven long weekends per year, including Labor Day.

Seven national holidays are to be cut as part of the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) amendments that are aimed at reducing regular working hours.

“We can choose to continue to observe national days, while moving the actual time off to other dates to ensure long weekends,” Citizen of the Earth Taiwan consultant Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳) said.

“The tourism industry relies on Chinese tourists, but numbers have declined because of Beijing’s policies. Increasing the number of domestic holidays could be a great way to spur tourism and help the industry without government subsidies,” he said, adding that government should mandate that the time off should be on Mondays or Fridays.

“For extended holidays that are longer than three days, people are more likely to go abroad than travel locally,” he said

The holidays that should be changed should be open to public debate, he said.

Several national holidays slated for elimination have been criticized as being out of touch with national priorities, such as continued observation of Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) birthday.

Meanwhile, about a dozen members of the Workers Struggle Alliance marched from their tent outside the Legislative Yuan to present a petition to Presidential Office officials, calling for President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to participate in a hearing they are to host today, before an official legislative public hearing on the administration’s proposed amendments is held tomorrow.