Ministry of labor now seeks two fixed days off / 一例一休爭議多 工總盼加班時數彈性　　　　　　　　　　

After the implementation of the "one fixed day off and one flexible rest day'' policy, a lot of companies said that they are afraid to ask their employees to work overtime because of the increased personnel costs. This results in a decrease of real income for workers since they have no extra money to earn. Therefore, the Chinese Taipei Federation of Industries hope that the government can make regulations on overtime and flexible working hours more flexible to solve the problem. On Jan.10, the Ministry of Labor invited Labor Affairs Bureau officials across Taiwan to make a claim to put "two fixed days off" into effect. Signing their names on the board, Labor Affairs Bureau officials across Taiwan together made a claim to strive for the implementation of having "two fixed days off" for workers. They hope that labor rights can be greatly enhanced in the near future. ==KUO FANG-YU Minister of Labor== In the first stage, we will publicize the policy. We will move on to give companies guidance and perform inspection work during the second and third stage. Catering to different needs in every city and county, we will help employers to solve the problems they face. We will help them to adjust the new policy during this period. What's more, they should also note that this is not a grace period. The central government and local governments have set goals for the adaptation period of the "one fixed day off and one flexible rest day" policy. During this period, employers will be fined if they have malicious intent to violate the law. CNFI Chairman Hsu Sheng-hsiung said that increased personnel costs may lead to a decrease in real income since employers will stop employees from working overtime to avoid giving higher overtime pay. Hsu suggested the government to plan supporting measures for overtime and flexible working hours. ==TSAI LIEN-SHENG CNFI secretary-general== Overtime working hours should be increased from 46 hours to 54 hours. The overtime pay for flexible rest days is too high for employers, so that they are unwilling to have their employees overwork to earn more money. If you work overtime on weekdays, then you will face the problem of easily reaching the restriction on overtime working hours. The biggest problem in the Labor Standards Act is that its regulations are too narrow. ==KUO FANG-YU Minister of Labor== Anything that has something to do with the issue of working hours is complicated. Both the management and employee have their own opinions on this issue. Therefore, we will collect opinions from both sides, and hope that through communication, a consensus will be reached. So far, we have not reached that phase. It is said that the Executive Yuan originally planned to create supporting measures for flexible working hours. However, the Ministry of Labor and the Executive Yuan said that during the run-in period, they will only collect opinions from employee and management sides to review the policy. Whether there will be supporting measures to cope with the problem is not yet decided. TRANSLATED BY：ARIEL HSIEH 在大大背板上簽名，全台各地勞政局處首長，難得齊聚一堂，共同為落實勞工「週休二日」進行宣示，期許全台勞動權益都能大幅提昇。 ==勞動部長 郭芳煜== 我們第一季 我們是用宣導 第二季用輔導 第三季才去檢查 去針對各縣市不同的需求 去幫助他們 解決他們的困難 是輔導它(企業)適應 但是它不是寬限 中央和地方聯手，規劃「適應期」目標。但期間，如果有重大惡意違法事件，還是要開罰。工總理事長、許勝雄，則發表千言書，表示人事成本大增，會不敢讓員工加班，可能也會使得勞工實質所得減少。同時也建議主管機關，在加班時數、和彈性工時上，能給配套措施。 ==工總秘書長 蔡練生== 就是加班的時數 應該可以從現在的46小時 增加到54小時 不然現在的狀況 你說休假日加班 成本太高了 沒有人願意讓勞工去加班 但你用平常日去加班的話 那個加班鐘點又已經滿了 你勞基法 最大的問題 就是說 它規範得太細 ==勞動部長 郭芳煜== 凡事只要跟工時相關的議題 其實都還蠻複雜的 所以資方 勞方勞工 不同勞工之間 其實對這個議題都有一些意見 我們要去廣泛的收集 然後還是希望能夠 先經過對話以後 能夠建立一些共識 再來處理 所以目前為止 大概還不到那個階段 原先傳出，行政院有意要研擬彈性工時的配套措施，但勞動部和行政院都表示，目前是新制上路的「磨合期」，會持續蒐集勞資雙方意見，再審慎處理、檢討，所以到底有沒有相關配套來因應，並沒有明確的時間表。 記者 曹晏郡 郭俊麟 台北報導