Here they are again, protesting in the freezing cold and bone soaking rain.
Taipei, Jan. 9 (CNA) They knew there was little chance of stopping passage of controversial labor law revisions, but young people still braved the cold and wet outside the Legislative Yuan on Monday night to make themselves heard.
They are among many who strongly oppose a government-sponsored amendment to the Labor Standards Act, which is scheduled for a final floor vote Tuesday to clear the Legislature where the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) holds the majority of seats.
As night fell Monday, pouring rain drenched the participants of the protest that began at 9 a.m. that morning, but they stayed on site even though they could only take shelter under umbrellas or raincoats.
Vivi Sun (孫玉薇), a 25-year-old graduate student in labor research at National Chengchi University, was one of the few hundred protesters there at around 10:30 p.m. Most of them were young people.
“Many people think that taking to the streets won’t change anything, but in the face of a terrible policy, as a citizen, the only thing we can do is to speak out, again and again, to have our voices heard,” Sun told CNA.
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A documentary worker, Yeh said she has seen cases of how overwork adversely affect society, citing patient safety affected by work-related fatigue among medical personnel and the loss of parental time with children.
“The government has vowed to address the problem of low birth rate, but when people are trapped in low wages and don’t have time to take care of their children, isn’t that just lip service?” said Yeh, who had camped outside the Legislature during the Sunflower movement.
Also a participant in the Sunflower Movement, 29-year-old Alexander Wang, a graduate student in biology, told CNA he joined the protest against the labor law amendment with great sadness.
“Rules on work hours are human rights issues. Workers need sufficient rest to take care of themselves. Their salary is not high. When they retire, most of them do not enjoy a secure retirement pension and are likely to sustain occupational injuries resulting from overtime work,” he said.
One of the rationales cited by the government in support of the amendment is that it would benefit workers because it would give them enough hours of work to increase their income. That is unacceptable, Wang said.
“To resolve the problem of working poverty, the government should facilitate wage increases and profit-sharing, not giving more legal leeway for employers to further exploit low-paid workers,” he said.