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Civic groups call for enhanced family care leave
Members of 22 civic groups rallied outside the Ministry of Labor building in Taipei to demand that workers get the same treatment as civil servants.
Currently, civil servants receive pay if they take family care leave, while workers employed by non-government agencies do not.
For over a decade, civic groups have demanded equal treatment for private sector workers but the government has always been reluctant to address the issue.
When the Democratic Progressive Party was the main opposition party in Taiwan, it had proposed that the same standard be applied to all private and public workers.
Labour leaders point out that the party has been in power for six years and so far nothing has happened.
They're calling for amendments to the Act of Gender Equality in Employment.
The 22 civic groups participating in the rally also asked that the seven days of annual family care leave be increased to 14 days, and for more flexibility for workers in applying for family care leave.
The government says its paid family care leave, if applied to the private sector, would impose a heavy burden on private sector employers.
