SHELTERED WORKSHOPS FACE BLEAK OUTLOOK AS STAFF AND MATERIAL COSTS RISE|大環境差 庇護工場年節禮盒業績下滑

The Lunar New Year is fast approaching, and many sheltered workshops are seizing the opportunity to introduce new products that people could buy and giveaway as new year gifts. However, given the lackluster economy, sales at some of these workshops this season have been slower than in previous years. Workers in the sheltered workshop, weigh fillings carefully as they make delicious biscuits for sale. With Lunar New Year approaching, most sheltered workshops, are ready to take on the New Year gift business, but due to the current environment, New Year gift box production is down by 20 to 30 percent over the same period last year. ==LIN CHENG-CHIA President of Down Syndrome Foundation== Cost has increased for many businesses. And now employers believe that with the new one fixed day off and one flexible day off policy, employers won't raise their salary. Therefore, resulting in people feeling hesitant to consume certain products. I think this is an expected psychological effect to the economy. Last year we sold about 16,000 box of biscuits, this year as of right now, we only sold around 5,000 boxes. In addition to this declining performance, some social welfare groups say that after the new labor law came into effect, the cost of manpower increased dramatically, resulting in a double blow. ==LIU YOU-CHI Social Affair Dept. Dir., Syin-Lu Social Welfare Foundation== We used to have a fixed schedule, but now because of the new policy, we have to change around the working hours. We will then have to communicate with the person with disabilities as well as their parents. Some of the foundation that provides round-the-clock care services, must increase labor cost when adjusting to the new policy. Each foundation must at least hire one to two more employees. Taipei City Government Department of Labor said that at present there are 39 sheltered workshops in Taipei. Some have already implemented a five day week, and do not work on holidays. This way they can reduce overtime expenses. Statistics for net profit in the first half of 2016, show about NT$4.5 million, on average each sheltered workshop, has monthly profit of just over NT$20,000. In the future increasing financial resources and reducing labor costs, will be an important issue. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 唐寶寶，在庇護工場上班，把餡料重量仔細算好，要做出可口餅乾販售。農曆春節將近，各大庇護工場，卯足全力，準備搶攻年節送禮商機，但現在因為大環境因素，使得年節禮盒業績，比去年同期下降2、3成。 ==唐氏症基金會董事長 林正俠== 很多的企業成本增加 那對勞工來講 他們也會覺得 可能是因為一例一休的關係 所以老闆也不大願意肯加薪 所以他們也針對 消費性的產品 也比較不敢去做一個消費 那我覺得這都是預期的心理 （商品）受到景氣的影響 去年是大概預計有 1萬6千多盒的禮盒 可是到現在 我們才賣了5千多盒 除了庇護工場的商品業績下滑之外，還有社福團體表示，在一例一休上路後，會使得假日排班的人力成本大增，等於是雙重打擊。 ==心路基金會公共事務部主任 劉又綺== 之前都是固定的排班 那因為現在有一例一休的關係 可能就是要調整上班的時間 那這就需要跟他 跟障礙者本身 還有跟家長溝通 有一些都是全日型照顧的機構 那對於那個排班上面 人力成本一定是增加的 預估至少每一個機構 都要再增加一兩個人力 是跑不掉的 北市勞動局表示，目前台北有39間庇護工場。有部分已經實施週休二日、假日沒上班，而各單位也能以排班方式，來減少加班費支出。但統計2016上半年淨利，大約450萬元，平均一間庇護工場，每月獲利2萬多元，未來在增加財源和降低人力成本上，會是重要課題。 記者 曹晏郡 吳其昌 台北報導