TAIPEI (Taiwan News) - Marchers in Taipei’s Labor Day parade Wednesday (May 1) braved pouring rain to demand more days off and better safeguards.
An estimated 6,000 labor activists took to the streets of the capital to demand that more official holidays, long-term care and 90 days of maternity leave be written into law, the Central News Agency reported.
The protesters also demanded a lifting of restrictions on strikes and protests, such as the fixed warning period, a ban on the use of irregular labor, and the selection of labor representatives to serve on company boards.
Organizers alleged that despite measures called for by the International Labor Organization, the conditions for workers in Taiwan had not improved over the past 20 years, but on the contrary even worsened.
The average working time per year for a laborer in an Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development member country stood at 1,744 hours in 2017, but in Taiwan, the total still amounted to 2,035 hours per year, meaning that Taiwanese employees worked an extra 36 days, protest organizers said.
The marchers, who hailed from various sectors of business, including state enterprises, wrote their demands on pieces of paper, bundled them into balls and threw them over the fence into the Legislative Yuan, CNA reported.
