KMT again delays labor deliberations

ANOTHER PROTEST:KMT lawmakers brandishing placards occupied the speaker’s podium ahead of a Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee meeting in Taipei

By Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators again delayed a meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee yesterday, holding signs and protesting that a review of a controversial amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) was unlawful.

KMT legislators on Wednesday last week disrupted an earlier committee meeting, saying that its review of an amendment to the act to approve the cancelation of seven public holidays and the implementation of “one mandatory day off and one flexible rest day per week” was illegal.

The controversy spilled over to the next day, with legislators scuffling over the issue.

A review of the Environmental Protection Administration’s budget was among the issues scheduled on the agenda yesterday afternoon, but KMT lawmakers occupied the speaker’s podium before it began, holding placards that read: “False proceedings” and “Unlawful.”

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩), who convened yesterday’s meeting, said that lawmakers could make one-minute “procedural remarks.”

KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) said the previous review of the amendment of the Labor Standards Act breached procedural guidelines and that the meeting should not continue unless the convener clearly explains the situation.

“Last week was a dark period for the Legislative Yuan and a shame on the nation’s democracy,” KMT Legislator Arthur Chen (陳宜民) said, adding that DPP lawmakers had imposed a “tyranny of the majority” and arbitrarily allowed unlawful proceedings to occur.

Arthur Chen said he “almost lost his life while being violently blocked” by DPP legislators when he tried to speak.”

After less than an hour of procedural remarks, Chen Ying announced a recess.

The meeting resumed at about 4pm, at which time the committee agreed that the proposals would be reviewed on another day, while a consultation is to be held today.