Taiwan | Weekends at last: workers to get 2 days off a week

Taiwanese people enjoy their weekend at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan.

Since Taiwan industrialized in the 1960s, its workers have strived to do whatever their employers asked, including putting in free overtime, out of fear of being replaced.

But many in this manufacturing powerhouse and democratically ruled island off the coast of China would like a better work-life balance to match their society’s growing affluence.

Now they’re getting a break. Earlier this month lawmakers approved changes in the Labor Standards Act requiring companies to limit work to 40 hours a week and give full-time workers at least two of every seven days off. Hourly overtime pay will ratchet higher as extra hours accrue.

After 15 years of long hours, Chou Hsun-Rong, a 43-year-old worker at a bonding material factory in suburban Taipei will be glad to spend more time with his young children.

“We wanted to contribute to our company, and in return, we want the company to respond in positive ways to our contributions,” Chou said. But he added, “When we work overtime, it’s true that we are sacrificing our family time, or that we even neglect the fact that we feel unwell.”

“So I wish working hours were shorter,” he said.

The changes in Taiwan’s onerous labor regimen come at a time when, unlike in many western countries, workers here been gaining leverage, with the unemployment rate at under 4 percent and nearly twice as many job openings as there are job seekers, according to the Labor Ministry.

Taiwanese worked 48-hour weeks until 2000, when the standard changed to 84 hours every two weeks, often spread over six days with no overtime pay. That limited many workers to just one day off. The 84-hour scheme was scrapped in January, with workweeks capped at 40 hours that could still be spread over more than five days.

President Tsai Ing-wen promised to push for two-day weekends while campaigning for office. She has pledged to sign the bill before the year’s end. AP