Number of covered workers estimated at some 2.67 million of a total work force in the Republic of China of 3.8 million.
Taiwan's work force is on the brink of a new era in job security and of improved working conditions. A draft of a comprehensive Labor Standards Law designed to govern the relations between management and labor is now before the ROC's Legislative Yuan (Congress) and, as enacted, will substantially improve protection of the working man in this country.
At this time, various regulations - factory regulations, mining regulations, factory safety regulations, labor welfare fund regulations and labor payment regulations- haphazardly govern issues involving some blue collar workers' rights.
The government has long wrestled with a comprehensive Labor Standards Law. The first draft was tabled in 1957 by the Ministry of Interior, and several revisions have been made since. Nevertheless, draft after draft was rejected by the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) until its recent acceptance of the present draft.
Under the proposed new law, more people will be protected by the law, adding to blue-collar workers in mining and manufacturing industries under present regulation.
Article three of the draft requires coverage of workers engaged in mining, manufacturing, water, electricity and gas supply, transportation, communications and other government designated activities. It is estimated that the number of workers covered by the program will reach 2.67 million of the total 3.8 million work force in this nation.
The Ministry of Interior did not include workers with the service industries in the program. Though the number of employees in restaurants, hotels and other aspects of the entertainment and tourism industries is on the rise, the diversity of custom and smallness of many enterprises and the intense competition in this area makes standard regulation not only a complex matter, but risky as well.
A major provision of the draft law requires that an employer declaring bankruptcy or closing must accord back pay, of less than a six-month total due, priority over the payment of secured loans. This is a significant safeguard for workers here, not accorded in many countries.
There have been objections to this specific provision by business, which fears difficulties to employers when they apply for loans from banks, and a decline of investment willingness by private investors.
To assuage these fears, Premier Sun Yun-suan has specifically instructed government authorities concerned to survey any action that might be required to avert investment problems.
Under the draft, to protect health, an employer may not force workers to work overtime. Overtime pay has been set one third higher than regular pay for the first two hours, and two thirds higher for the third and fourth hours.
Stiffening child-labor regulation, the draft law specifies the minimum age for apprentices at 15.
One of the most impressive provisions is a new and sweeping regulation on pensions for retired workers and severance pay to workers being laid off. There have been no such standards and laborers had no rights in this area, except those who participated in the labor insurance program.
To protect female workers from being laid off during pregnancy and after childbirth, the draft assures women workers protection and demands their assignment to less taxing work, if applicable, during the period of pregnancy.
The draft also specifies employers' responsibility to compensate workers for occupational injuries.