An annual protest march on Labor Day in Taipei will be replaced this year by an assembly in front of the Presidential Office because of the ongoing surge in local COVID-19 cases, a coalition of trade unions which organize the march said Wednesday.
In light of the recent increase in domestic COVID-19 cases, the coalition will not mobilize workers to take to the streets of Taipei on May 1 this year but will organize an assembly at Ketagalan Boulevard to call on the government to raise the minimum wage and take measures to ensure better workplace safety, the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCTU), which leads the coalition, said at a press conference in Taipei.
Demand for wage hike
TCTU President Chiang Chien-hsing (???) said the government should raise the minimum wage from the current NT$25,250 (US$862.32) to NT$28,000 starting next year, as the increasing cost of living was driving real wages down.
The average monthly pay in 2021 was NT$43,211, up 1.93 percent from the previous year, Chiang said, citing Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics data.
However, after deducting the nearly three-percent rise in the consumer price index, the real monthly pay decreased by 0.04 percent in 2021, he said, adding that it was the first decline in five years.
Chiang said the idea that wages will push inflation up was an argument used by “bad” employers to resist wage increases, and he urged the government to adjust the minimum wage later this year in order to mitigate the impact of inflation.
Hu Sheng-yi (???), president of the Yilan County Confederation of Trade Unions, said although Taiwan’s economy grew by 6.28 percent in 2021, the highest growth rate in 11 years, the ongoing pandemic had hurt workers financially.
Workplace safety
The event on May 1, for which the coalition expects a turnout of approximately 1,000 workers from different trade unions, is intended to remind the government of the difficulty faced by hundreds of thousands of workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Hu added.
The coalition also urged the government to take more action to prevent workplace injuries and ensure that injured workers are better compensated.
Every year, about 50,000 workers in Taiwan suffer injuries at their workplace, and of these, about 500 are killed, said Chiang.
The government should also come up with measures to help injured workers to reenter the workforce, he added.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel