In my opinion this issue is a bigger threat and has a greater effect on society than the Sunflower protest. Why are foreigners not interested?
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In my case it is because I have them right outisde my window. They look, as we call them in the ol country, like ganado bravo. They have been fighting
It is a very important issue, but one that touches on too many interests -see thread about the 30k salaries.
I mean a lot of foreigners get emotionally involved in the China and Independence issues. But in the current situation, the status quo has little chance of changing and is more of a spiritual issue that has little effect on the day to day.
On the other hand, long working hours, low pay and the Country being run by corrupt politicians funded by idiot bosses is killing this place right now. Cost down, cost down, cost down ! No incentive for innovation , marketing or research. Companies are just trying to compete by making workers work for longer and for less money.
This is the core reason for no innovation.
The reason for low birth rates.
The reason nobody really cares about their job or company
The reason nobody has time to be themselves
The reason nobody is consuming
The reason anyone with any talent or ambition is leaving Taiwan.
The DPP is a bunch of corrupt liars who are destroying Taiwan. If foreigners love Taiwan they should care.
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I frankly don’t understand the need to push for this amendment now.
If the DPP is gonna tread backwards, why did they need to push for the reform so hard last year?
They lost some youth vote the first time when they didn’t commit to a pure weekends off bill, and now they are going to let business owners move shifts around to make labourers work 14 days straight again.
This tread backwards is even worse then how things were before their last reform.
Their excuse for stumping on labour rights is the labourers need to do overtime, especially on the supposed rest days, to make ends meet, when it’s plenty obvious that if someone is in that position, they are being underpaid.
Anyway… DPP let me down this time. Gonna vote all NPP next time.
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Not to mention that “forced vacations” should be illegal. Too many families left in the limbo.
And the indentured slavery of foreign laborers, treated like slaves, with no human rights. That is karma that will fall on this nation’s head without mercy.
I can’t believe there is no other way. Competing to the bottom is like cutting off your leg to sell the meat.
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Tsai Ing-wen is an absolute fucking disgrace. Never have I been so disappointed in a politician. She refuses to get involved in anything controversial and sides with big business in every single policy decision.
She can’t even be arsed pushing for same sex marriage legislation to be given priority.
Taiwan is being destroyed by big business interests raping the environment and exploiting workers but the average Taiwanese is too apathetic to push back. They’ve been taught not to question authority so they’re just going to suck it in and accept the erosion of their working conditions.
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The young ones are told to escape, that there is no hope for this island. If they are talented, they do. Otherwise, they just float. Older people, well, they live in acompletely diferent world, like baby boomers abroad.
We have lost hope.
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It makes you wonder what kind of pressure is being applied by big business and/or other players/forces on the DPP that they invest so much political capital in pushing this through. What’s in it for them?
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It’s a democracy. Bad government? Blame the voters.
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yeah, the young ones, go to the US, do an MBA, come back and open a fucking cafe or burger bar or craft beer bar or god knows what…or else work in translation and annoy the fuck out of me.
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Because it doesn’t affect them. It affects mostly the minimum wage workers/working poor, which is a lot, but not the majority. The majority aren’t working under such conditions. With the cross-strait agreement on services, there was a clear enemy, so it was easier to gain more publicity and attention.
Disclaimer, as people tend to interpret everything in the most extreme fashion possible: I’m not saying the majority are earning big bucks or having a ton of paid leaves, and I’m not saying they shouldn’t speak out. Of course they should.
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In previous year I’m active joining this kind of protest but due to work schedules I can’t join.
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Always think about this. Apart from the obvious funding and backhanders, do think they at some level think that this is the way to help the ‘economy’. Bunch of fuckwits
She’s one of those ‘consensus’ types.Not what we need now. The reasons she is stalling is because polls showed that a slight majority in the South are against gay marriage.
We need a leader who breaks the rules.
I believe Taiwan is waiting for that leader now.
PS she did a good job on pensions which was deliberate to do it early, however I have seen very little else from her team or leadership from her.
PPS seeks like the marriage law will happen within six months
Sure, it doesn’t effect a lot of people here immediately, but if you have any dog in the fight of Taiwan it’s the single most important thing right now. You just can’t see a future for a society where the power relationship between workers and bosses is such a mess. Taiwanese bosses hate their workers and workers hate their companies. There is no motivation to do anything apart from the minimum.
Cross Strait issues are just more exciting to foreigners. It’s easy to see it as a classic good versus evil struggle.
I need to leave this place
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I might rock down to see what this is about and show my support . I like most people havent been following it.
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Worth following. Just seems to be the DPP in competition amongst it’s politicians to see who can most egregiously show disdain towards the general population.
Yesterday was amazing
When the KMT guy mentioned the protests, DPP politician Chiu Yi-ying said:
“They aren’t real workers, not really a protest. Real workers would be at work , working hard. This group are so lazy they can’t even protest properly”
KMT guy" can’t you hear them shouting?".
Chiu: “Not real, probably just a tape recording”.
I try to understand the point of view. After the law was put into effect, several small stores and eateries posted that they were reducing the number of days they were open. Some close one Saturday a month - they only closed on Sundays before. Some close now every Saturday - it used to be open on Saturdays - so all weekend is off. Others used to work non stop, now take Sundays off. In summary, they adapt…at a cost. Is it sustainable? Time will tell.
Now, I also understand certain industries have different schedule needs. Like MRT construction, they have cycles for technical reasons. But there must be some flexibility. There must be another way asides from just running workers down non stop. While the machines can or even need to work over 24 hours, it is idiotic beyond reason to ask that of a worker. Doctors drop dead here from exhaustion due to their schedules. Just because it is manual labor that does not make workers disposable.
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If you can’t run your business while paying workers a living wage and working reasonable hours, then your business is not feasible.
The companies pushing the DPP are not really restaurants, rather the big dinosaur corporations and ODMs who are stuck on the toy factory model and think the only way for their business to succeed is to squeeze workers more. Many of these companies don’t even have proper websites or spend a single penny on marketing. They are not competitive and have no ideas apart from overtime.
Read this post from the only good DPP politician, Lin Shu Fen.Log in to Facebook | Facebook The economy has been failing because of the business model and approach and not because of the workers. All of these disastrous policies are not based on research or science but rather the whims of these selfish, idiots bosses .
I don’t feel any sympathy for them and neither should you.
The policies being protested are just the tip of the iceberg. Conditions and salaries are still bad for people not directly affected, it means that there is no hope for any improvement.
I feel sad. I really held on to some hope for Taiwan.
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I put the examples of the small enterprises at least trying to adapt. As you mention, the dinosaur corporations are stuck in tar, refuse to move or change. These people had very good years to prepare, but refused to read the writing on the wall. Now, those corporations hold the government hostage: they get their way or go to China/Vietnam/Bangladesh. As we have seen, maybe North Korea would take them. Problem also as said they hate workers and hate Taiwan. Won’t leave without a painful and costly tantrum.
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