Poll shows labor policy unpopular

By Lin Liang-sheng and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

More than 60 percent of respondents said that the “one fixed day off and one flexible rest day” labor policy is a failure, while 76.8 percent said the new rules should be amended for a more complete solution, a poll published by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) showed yesterday.

Nearly 60 percent said the rules would result in lower wages, an increase in overheads and a general rise in prices — which the KMT calls the “three losses” — while 32.9 percent said those things would not happen, the poll showed.

Asked whether the policy might raise tensions between employers and employees — with the questionnaire describing more worry among bosses about lawsuits and workers fearing not getting their days off or proper overtime payments — 60 percent said disputes would increase, while 30.7 percent said they would not.

Among respondents, 43.2 percent said they worried that companies might disregard the workweek policy in the six-month adjustment period, while 45.3 percent said they were not worried, and 66.8 percent said that many problems were caused by the hasty implementation of the policy by the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), with 23.7 percent saying that was not the case.

Asked who should bear responsibility for any negative outcomes from the policy, 13.8 percent said Tsai; 9.2 percent said the Executive Yuan, 7.3 percent said company owners, 7.1 percent said the Legislative Yuan; 6.6 percent said the premier, 5.7 percent said the Ministry of Labor; 4.8 percent said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and 3.8 percent said that society in general should be held accountable.

Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they agreed with Premier Lin Chuan’s (林全) statement that the policy’s implementation would inevitably bring a general rise in prices, while 56.2 percent disagreed.

Of those polled, 50.6 percent said that the policy’s implementation would not affect them, while 46.3 percent said it would.

The poll was conducted by the Taiwan Real Survey Co at the behest of the KMT on Friday and Saturday last week. It collected 1,079 valid samples, has a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 2.98 percentage points.