Wang Hong-ren argues that Taiwan’s labor laws are regressing below those of its southern neighbor.
The News Lens
Date: 2017/12/12
Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) Cabinet last month revised the Labor Standards Act on the
Photo Credit:bvi4092@Flickr CC BY 2.0
grounds of “giving more flexibility to employees and employers” in terms of working hours. It is obvious, however, that this was only intended to give more flexibility to employers.
Under their logic, these new rules will push forward an economic model of long hours and low wages in order to save some businesses from their death throes. This represents a continuation of the same labor-punishing policies of previous administrations. One must wonder if people really want lower wages and more “flexible” working hours in order to compete with nations like Vietnam, whose labor conditions are already better than Taiwan’s in some aspects.
Who has more miserable laborers, Taiwan or Vietnam? It is shameful to even ask the question, as Taiwan should theoretically be so far ahead. [FULL STORY]
Credit: Wang Hong-ren
Vietnamese workers can be compelled to work up to six days per week, eight hours per day with 11 national holidays. Including overtime hours, this is 2,616 – 2,716 hours per year, compared to 2,552 hours for Taiwan. After one year of work at a company, there is hardly any difference between the two countries: the maximum is 2,520-2,620 hours in Vietnam and 2,496 in Taiwan.
