Unbind the Laborers “Bound Feet”, Don’t Just Gloss Over the Matter

 Unbind the Laborers “Bound Feet”, Don’t Just Gloss Over the Matter

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

September 19, 2017

 Translation of an Excerpt

Premier Lai Ching-te raised the pay for the military, civil servants, and public school teachers by 3%; this is simple populism. As to whether the budget can be balanced, the matter will be left to the future for gradual digestion. The revision of the law governing one mandatory holiday, one flexible day-off which will follow will be a veritable challenge: on the one hand, there is the dissatisfaction of industries; on the other, expectations on the part of the labor sector. How to harmonize the rights and interests of the two sides will definitely not be simply arithmetic. Even a sharper Premier, in fact, must consider two things: one is the views of the numerous industries and laborers that have no opportunity to make their voices heard. The other is what kind of “Labor standards Act” will be able to sustain Taiwan's long-term economic development?

One mandatory holiday, one flexible day-off is a product of the leftist illusion of Tsai Ing-wen, plus executive authority, coupled with legislative sycophancy. Once put into practice, society has suffered from mal-adaptation, leading to widespread grievances. This kind of retrogressive legislation should have been amended much earlier, but simply because of his obstinacy, Lin Chuan had only wanted to use executive orders to ease the legislated "bound feet"; this obviously could not work. One of the main driving forces of the Cabinet reshuffle with Lai replacing Lin is precisely that Lai Ching-te wanted to remove this stumbling block for the 2018 elections; the problem is, besides persuading Tsai Ying-wen, how much is his own view vis-à-vis the matter?

For a long time, the DPP relied on ideology to harvest from the labor battlefield. Now that the DPP is in power, how will Premier Lai find a way out for the Labor Standards Act from the perspective of comprehensive national development, which is not an easy matter? Among Tsai Ing-wen and high-echelons of her government, how many have received or disbursed wages in accordance with the Labor Standards Act? The answer, we are afraid, will be extremely few. Today, if we want to talk about reviving the economy, let's ponder that it is not easy to be either the managers or the laborers!

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