TOO MUCH? The coalition of trade unions called on the Ministry of Labor to ignore the National Development Council and evaluate whether Article 84-1 is still needed
Taipei Times
Date: Jan 20, 2019
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter
A coalition of trade unions yesterday demonstrated outside the National Development
Union members outside the Ministry of Labor in Taipei yesterday hold signs that read: “Workers are overworked” during a protest against a proposed responsibility-based system for workers above a certain salary level. Photo: CNA
Council in Taipei, protesting what it called the council’s attempt to pressure the Ministry of Labor into imposing a salary threshold that would allow employers to subject some employees to a responsibility-based scheme and could aggravate overwork.
The council succumbed to pressure from the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei and the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan when in August last year it overstepped its bounds and submitted a proposal to the ministry that asked it to widen the scope of Article 84-1 of the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), Taiwan Federation of Financial Unions secretary-general Han Shih-hsien (韓仕賢) said.
The article allows employers to bypass the act and have workers in 40 professions — including flight attendants, reporters, security guards, chauffeurs at government agencies and women working the night shift — work on a responsibility-based schedule, as long as an agreement is reached between the employer and the employee, and the agreement is forwarded to local governments.
The measure could mean that the employees would have to be on call at all times.
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