Undoubtedly overworking is a major problem in Taiwan. Most of the current generation are slowly working themselves to death working excessive hours meanwhile so long as the tax dollars roll in, the government seems to show little care.

Afraid of losing their jobs or being passed over for a promotion, the workers themselves tolerate slave like working hours in the hope of eventually rising above the rat race.

As such, death by overwork (an official cause of death recognised in Taiwan) is on the rise, yet the punishments for working your employees to death remain punitive and do little to alleviate the root of the problem; unreal expectations and widespread exploitation by employers.

In 2010 Hsu Shao-pin (徐紹斌) worked himself to death for Nanya Technology Corp after working an average overtime of 80 hours per month.

The end result?

Nanya Corp had to pay Hsu’s family a paltry 44 month base salary in compensation.

No massive fines, no restructuring and no review and overhaul of the workplace laws that exist in Taiwan. Meanwhile Nanya Corp payout what they probably make in a few days and simply go and hire another peon to work to death.

Thankfully at least one group in Taiwan see something wrong with the above picture;

The Taiwan Association for Victims of Occupational Injuries plans to lead dozens of groups in a demonstration in front of the Department of Health headquarters to protest against government agencies they say fail to protect the health and well-being of workers.


Lashing out against the Taiwanese government, the Victims of Occupational Injuries Association accuses them of ‘turn(ing) a blind eye to work-related stress and injuries as a result of excessive work hours, low wages and hazardous work environments’.

And just as I observed, Association secretary-general Huang Hsiao-ling (黃小陵) notes that the Taiwanese government

only focused on the illnesses that result from overwork, but did nothing to tackle the root cause of the problem — unreasonable work hours and high-stress work environments.


Bravo, and I tip my hat to someone for publicly calling the government out on it’s absolute inaction. The way the Taiwanese government keep quiet about the companies forcing their employees into overwork, you’d honestly think they were all in cahoots with eachother.

Whilst Huang and his association lay the blame squarely on the government, are they really the only ones to blame? Surely the institutions and corporations themselves share some blame too?

The Taiwanese government might wilfully provide an ideal environment for employers to work their employees to death, but it is afterall the employers actually engaging in the systematic manslaughter of Taiwan’s workforce (let’s call it what it is).

Meanwhile the government itself seems to be facing an uphill battle regarding overwork. On one hand they’ve got Associations calling them out on their complete lack of action addressing the issue, but on the other – when they do actually try and do something, amazingly it’s the overworked employees themselves who are their harshest critics.

Just a few days ago the Legislative Yuan Education and Culture Committee passed an amendment act which required ‘educators to work in their respective institutions eight hours a day, five days a week‘.

The response?

Parents and Teachers Unions were furious.

The National Alliance of Parents Chairman, Hsieh Kuo-ching (謝國清), ‘thought the working hour issue is over-simplified‘. Meanwhile the National Teacher’s Association Chairman Liu Chin-hsu protested that

education cannot be numerated, that it is the obligation of educators to teach and to counsel, and leaving students unattended because working hour has ended is not morally acceptable.


Unbelievable!

In the space of a week you have one Association criticising the government for inaction and in the same week, following the an announcement to combat possible overwork in the teaching sector, teachers and parents unions blasting the government for interfering with their working hours.

So some parents might be unable to continue using Taiwan’s education system as a defacto childcare system (because they themselves have to work a gabillion hours a day)… is that really worth potentially working people to death for?

If this is the thanks the government gets for trying to improve the working conditions of Taiwan’s teachers, I can only imagine the furore that will erupt should they start making inroads into the rest of Taiwan’s workforce.

A reflection perhaps of why the government seems so hesitant to apply any restrictions to Taiwan’s greater working conditions at all.


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1. Working in Taiwan? Watch out for ‘death by overwork’.
2. Taiwanese government works against itself on overwork
3. Even a dead baby can’t save you from Taiwan’s overwork
4. Taiwan: A nation of overworked and unhappy employees
5. What happens when Taiwanese parents overwork everyday