The Ministry of Labor (MOL) has been implementing various administrative measures in recent years to safeguard workers' rights and interests, garnering concrete results that are worthy of commendation, Premier Mao Chi-kuo stated today.
These measures include implementing the Labor Insurance Annuity scheme, providing allowances to workers who take long-term unpaid child care leave, incentivizing wage hikes, safeguarding laborers' claims on severance pay and retirement pensions, raising basic wages and reducing legal work hours.
The premier made these remarks at today's Cabinet meeting after the MOL reported on the government's important administrative measures and successes in protecting labor rights and interests.
Beginning January 1, 2016, legal work hours will be reduced from 84 hours over two weeks to 40 hours per week, Mao pointed out. He thus enjoined the MOL to expedite the amendment of relevant bylaws and formulate complementary measures. The Labor Standards Act amendment that caps overtime at 54 hours per month is currently under legislative review and will be treated as a priority bill. The premier asked the MOL and Ministry of Economic Affairs to proactively coordinate with the ruling and opposition caucuses to pass the bill as soon as possible.
Aside from raising basic wages and reducing work hours, the government in May 2009 established the Labor Rights and Interests Fund, which had received more than 20,000 applications for litigation assistance as of the end of May 2015. Among the lawsuits involved, some 75 percent of the rulings were in the workers' favor, generating more than NT$1.8 billion (US$57.86 million) for the workers.
Meanwhile, occupational accidents have been decreasing every year; in 2014, the occupational accidents rate plunged to 3.453 per thousand (including deaths, disabilities, injuries and sicknesses), the lowest ever.
More than 320,000 workers had benefited from the measure to provide allowances to workers taking long-term unpaid child care leave, receiving NT$29 billion (US$932.18 million) by the end of May 2015, the MOL pointed out. More than 50,000 of the applicants, or 17 percent, were male; the other 270,000 plus, or 83 percent, were female.
Also, as of the end of May this year, payments from the Labor Insurance Annuity scheme (implemented since 2009) for old age, disability and death exceeded NT$333.6 billion (US$10.72 billion), benefiting more than 680,000 workers.