LIVING NEEDS: A referendum on the minimum wage might affect the budget by raising government workers’ wages, making it off-limits, the electoral commission said

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 27, 2018
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

Proposals to stage referendums about the introduction of a higher minimum wage and to scrap the latest amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) made by New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) are to be further discussed, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said after hearings about the proposals yesterday.

The minimum wage is NT$22,000 per month, or NT$140 per hour, after the Ministry of Labor in September last year raised it from NT$21,009, or NT$133 per hour, in adherence to the Regulations for the Deliberation of Basic Wage (基本工資審議辦法).

While President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has promised to introduce a higher minimum wage, the ministry continues postponing legislation, Huang said, adding that the public should demand a new wage act through a referendum.

Huang proposed the question: “Do you agree that the Legislative Yuan should instate a minimum wage act to ensure that the nation’s minimum wage allows workers and those they support to meet their basic living needs?”    [FULL  STORY]