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“One Mandatory Holiday, One Flexible Day-Off” Must Soon Be Adjusted

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 “One Mandatory Holiday, One Flexible Day-Off” Must Soon Be Adjusted 

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)

March 14, 2017

 Translation of an Except

Since “one mandatory holiday, one flexible day-off” went into effect late last December, the Labor Ministry’s so-called "publicity and education stage" will soon come to a close, to be followed by an “advisory and counseling stage,” and then the "inspection stage," which would concentrate on inspection, scrutiny, and issue of penalty tickets. However, Taipei Mayor Ke Wen-je complained that “one mandatory holiday, one flexible day-off” stirred grievances and fury from the public. Nantou County Executive Lin Ming-chen, in a high-profile move, instructed the county government legal staff to study "whether Nantou County could refuse to implement the law." Other counties and cities have also indicated their stance, requesting that the central government conduct a review. “One mandatory holiday, one flexible day-off” is complicated and difficult to implement; hastily legislated, it caused a lose-lose-lose situation among labor, management, and government. It is indeed a bad law. However, the Labor Ministry has no capacity to extricate itself from this predicament; indeed “one mandatory holiday, one flexible day-off” should be laid to rest!

Since Taipei City and Nantou County "fired the first salvo," other counties and cities have indicated their stance one after another. Their words were moderate, but they were one in opposing the central government’s pushing, in a heavy-handed manner, “one mandatory holiday, one flexible day-off,” and  demanding a review of the new law. Miaoli County Executive Hsu Yao-chang said that “one mandatory holiday, one flexible day-off” "encountered difficulties in implementation" in so far as holidays were concerned, adding that, for example, the county often had to hold activities on holidays, and the new law caused a "shortage of hands, creating problems in implementation.” He asked the Labor Ministry not to resort to fines in order to avoid a grassroots backlash. Cities and counties, including Miaoli, New Taipei City and Taichung, either asked to revise the law, or expand the flexibility, or expect to enhance dialogue, but the key note in their requests was that “one mandatory holiday, one flexible day-off” was difficult to implement and that the new law should be revised or relaxed.

Pushing for a full-scale five-day workweek for all labor is late in coming, and is an absolutely correct policy. It is welcomed by labor and accepted by industries; however, the stipulation of “one mandatory holiday, one flexible day-off,” on the other hand, is a wrong idea, causing the entire labor market and operations of industries to lose flexibility. As a result, labor, management, and society have all become "victims of the policy.” Initially, the ignorance of Labor Ministry officials, plus the fact that the Tsai government was hijacked by a few radical labor groups, led to the enactment of “one mandatory holiday, one flexible day-off.” When the perils have emerged and both labor and management are howling in despair, it is high time that we conducted a review of the policy. We would once again urge the government to immediately suspend the implementation of “one mandatory holiday, one flexible day-off,” and enact laws and regulations that are more flexible, that are truly in line with labor interests, and that will allow the industries to operate.

 

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