Labor rights groups to stage hunger strike in push for more days off

Taipei, March 23 (CNA) A coalition of labor rights groups will launch a hunger strike next month to demand the reinstatement of the seven days off scrapped in 2016, as lawmakers review bills on "anniversaries and national holidays enforcement."

In a statement on Thursday, the "Work with Dignity" alliance said it would ask people to join its 200-hour hunger strike outside the Legislature from 10 a.m. on April 11 to 6 p.m. on April 19.

The alliance is also calling for employers to pay more into employee pension pots and the establishment of a similar system for foreign workers.

The aim to "give people their days off back" has been designated by the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) caucus as a legislative session priority. Related bills are set to be reviewed in the coming week.

The KMT cancelled the seven days off in 2015 by executive order "to make up for the fewer hours of work following a legal revision that year that shortened the workweek from 42 to 40 hours."

In 2016, the DPP caucus, which had a legislative majority, refused to acknowledge the order, and it became invalid in June. As a result, the public had five of the seven days off later that year.

This angered the country's seven major commercial and industrial groups. In December 2016, under a legal drive led by the DPP, amendments to the Labor Standards Act cleared the legislative floor, which cancelled the seven days off and introduced the "one fixed day off, one flexible rest day" policy.

Before the cancellations, people in Taiwan used to have days off on Jan. 2, Youth Day (March 29), Teachers' Day (Sept. 28), Retrocession Day (Oct. 25), Chiang Kai-shek's (蔣中正) birthday (Oct. 31), Sun Yat-sen's (孫中山) birthday (Nov. 12), and Constitution Day (Dec. 25).

Taiwan's "one fixed day off, one flexible rest day" policy mandates that workers have one guaranteed day off each week, while the second rest day can be negotiated or adjusted based on employer and employee agreements.

Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) dismissed the idea of reinstating the seven days off when asked by reporters for comment on Monday.

"I don't think it's a real issue," Liu said, cautioning against "hasty legislation."

She noted that lawmakers and academics who participated in public hearings at the legislature failed to reach any consensus on the issue.

Meanwhile, Labor Minister Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said on Friday that there should be more discussions on the matter.

On Thursday, Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Su Chun-jung (蘇俊榮) said he was "not opposed" to giving people May 1 off for Labor Day.