New labor minister appointed after uproar over suicide case

New labor minister appointed after uproar over suicide case

2024-11-25

Lawmaker-at-large Hung Sun-han has assumed office as Taiwan’s new minister of labor. His appointment comes after the resignation of Ho Pei-shan, who stepped down last week amid uproar over her handling of a suicide case in the ministry. At a presser on Monday, Hung said his first task on Tuesday would be to inspect the ministry branch where the civil servant took his life amid allegations of workplace bullying.

Hung also offered an apology on behalf of the ministry to the family of the deceased. He also said that the Ministry of Labor will fully cooperate with the judicial investigation currently underway, adding that any matters that require clarification will be thoroughly investigated. He urged ministry staff to support one another to help restore public trust in the institution, whose goal is to protect the rights of workers in the country.

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為霸凌案鞠躬道歉！洪申翰接任勞動部長　承諾會全力配合調查

2024-11-25

民進黨不分區立委洪申翰週一正式接任勞動部長，首先要面對勞動部前北分署長謝宜容涉嫌霸凌公務員導致其輕生的案件。對此，洪申翰在記者會透露明天早上第一個行程就會到北分署看看同仁，也希望幫同仁打打氣。

深深一鞠躬，洪申翰代表勞動部對離世的吳姓公務員和家屬致歉，洪申翰在致詞中強調，除了已經進行的司法調查，勞動部絕對會全力配合，若還有需要進一步查明該釐清，都該釐清楚，也期盼勞動部全體同仁能在這段困難過程中互相支持，逐步重振士氣，重新找回社會的信任，一起守護全國勞工權利。

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Businesses give out free food to celebrate Premier12 win

The start of the week was a little easier this Monday, as businesses all around the island celebrated Taiwan’s win at the Premier12. Some shops launched offers and discounts to celebrate the victory, while other gave out free snacks and food to eager baseball fans. Over in Keelung, one eatery set aside 1,000 shumai dumplings to give out; while down in Tainan, a local councilor readied 600 fried chicken cutlets to share with locals.

A crowd has gathered to collect fried chicken cutlet, eggs and dumplings, for free!

Tainan City Councilor Tsai Yu-hui held a snacks giveaway to celebrate Taiwan’s victory at the Premier12. Also present was Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che.

Tsai Yu-hui
Tainan city councilor
I organized this event to celebrate Team Taiwan’s win! We’re giving out 600 fried chicken cutlets.

A baker worked through the night to create puff buns in the shape of a baseball to celebrate the achievement.

Baker
Since we make puff buns, we decided to make them into baseballs to share with fans.

Another bakery in Taipei is celebrating with buy-one-get-one-free deals on pineapple cakes and egg yolk pastries.

Lee Tien-heng
Baker
I’ve been watching baseball for more than 20 years. Seeing Taiwan win a worldwide tournament after all these years makes me super happy.

Over in Keelung, a restaurant is straight-up giving out food for free.

From 10:30 in the morning, the shop gave out 1,000 shumais to the general public. Its athletic owners say they understand the hardships of professional sports.

Kao Chia-ho
Restaurateur
Since we were little, we’ve always been into sports. I’ve been doing sports since I was in Grade Four. We really understand the struggles of sportspeople, especially under the intense competition in the tournament, and the fact that Taiwan hadn’t won in a long time. We were planning on giving out food anyway, but in the end they won, so we decided to also give out 1,000 shumais.

In Changhua, a renowned maker of bawan gave out more than 200 servings to eager diners.

Liu Chen-lin
Bawan maker
We made some 200 bawan to share with everyone.

Also in Changhua, a braised pork rice eatery is planning to give 100 servings starting from Tuesday.

If something is clear, it’s that Taiwan loves food as much as its victory in the Premier12.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

2024-11-25

Grueling Taipowertraining requires hopefulsto climb poles carrying 15kg

Before and after every typhoon, legions of Taipower repairers fan out to ensure that power lines are functioning properly. In their line of work, they have to wear 15kg of protective gear and insulated gloves before climbing 3m straight into the air on a utility pole. It’s not easy. Staff must go through at least a year of training and assessment. Taipower recently opened up its training facility in Kaohsiung’s Daliao to show the public what their workers go through to prepare.

A trainee repeats the process to herself as she prepares to climb a utility pole. After making sure her equipment is fastened correctly, she starts the ascent.

Taipower maintenance personnel must wear 15kg of protective equipment and climb 3m into the air. When power is flowing, they must work as quickly as possible. It’s a trial of physical strength, focus, and skill. But still, many people are willing to give it a try.

Lai Pin-ying
Trainee
Compared with being a nurse, since they work in hospitals, they’re inside in the AC every day. But now that I’m here, I’m out in the sun for hours every day. It’s a huge difference. At first I was afraid of heights, but when you go up there, after a while you kind of get used to it.

Chen Hsing-ju
Trainee
I used to work as a contracted safety officer at the Hsinta Power Plant. Then I found out the benefits at Taipower were great, and the salary isn’t bad either. At first I couldn’t get used to it. Now there are still some things I find difficult. But I’ll keep practicing and my strength will improve. Soon I’ll be just as good as the guys in the first half of their shift.

But to become an official maintenance worker with Taipower, hopefuls have to train for a half year at the Daliao Training Center in Kaohsiung, followed by another six months of practical training around Taiwan. Last year 397 people were recruited, but 10% didn’t pass.

Sun Chi-tsu
Taipower Fengshan office deputy manager
It’s hard for Taipower staff when sometimes, in order to fix a problem, they have to spend the entire day clearing a huge fallen tree. That’s why it sometimes takes a while to fix.

Many women are also signing up for what many consider to be a physically demanding job. Through personal step-by-step guidance by senior staff, Taipower is training more future electricians who can be on standby for maintenance and emergency repairs, ensuring the smooth supply of electricity to everyone in Taiwan.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

2024-11-25

ITRI Wins 8 awards at ‘Oscars of Innovation’

The award ceremony for the R&D 100, also known as the “Oscars of Innovation,” was held in the US state of California on Nov. 21. This year, eight winning inventions among 100 belonged to Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute, or ITRI. The inventions spanned five fields of application, including telecommunications, semiconductors, and medicine. According to ITRI President Edwin Liu, ITRI now has 66 R&D 100 awards in total, but the most important thing is to introduce the winning innovations to the market, so as to improve peoples’ lives.

A representative for ITRI receives a certificate at the R&D 100 Awards ceremony, held in the US state of California. This year, ITRI bagged a total of eight awards.

The team posed with the certificates and the national flag. The R&D 100 Awards is also known as the “Oscars of Innovation,” highlighting their prestige. It’s truly a glorious moment for ITRI.

Paul Heney
R&D World vice president
Definitely there’s an AI component to a lot of the things, whether it’s the mixed plastic recycling, whether it’s AI-assisted surgery. So we’re just very excited to be here tonight to recognize your team, to honor you and to say thank you for all the wonderful research that the Taiwanese researchers, engineers, scientists do to make the world a better place.

Edwin Liu
ITRI President
In fact, over the past 17 years, ITRI has received 66 R&D 100 Awards in total. I often remind my colleagues that winning an award is only the beginning. Our goal is to introduce the technologies to the market. Of the 66 award-winning innovations, around 90% are already in the market, whether through technology transfer or start-ups. I believe this has greatly contributed to Taiwan’s industry.

The eight innovations are AI applications for five fields, namely, telecommunications, semiconductors, medicine, sustainability and process optimization.

June Lin
ITRI Chief Marketing Officer
We developed the MOSAIC 3D AI chip, and we’ve utilized AI to improve efficiency of energy management. We’ve even used AI to formulate materials more precisely. And there’s even a medical application, in endoscopy, where we used AI for navigation.

ITRI believes it’s only the beginning to win an award for an invention. The point is to continue innovating to improve peoples’ lives and contribute to society.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

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Questions as Taichung installs smart ‘noise cameras’ to catch noise polluters

A new smart monitoring system has been installed on Taichung’s roads. These new “noise cameras” can catch drivers out for making too much noise on the roads. Such noise pollution is often caused by retrofitted exhaust pipes. The smart new systems might be a bit of a shock to drivers, some of whom have questions about how they can challenge an unfair ticket. We spoke to officials and lawyers to find out more.

Noisy vehicles are common on Changlong Road in Taichung’s Taiping District. Now the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau has teamed up with police to install “noise cameras.”

Environmental sound level meters are paired with license plate recognition cameras and smart monitoring stations. This is the new standard facility for noise monitoring on Taichung’s roads.

Shang Wen-lin
Taichung City Environmental Protection Bureau
One law enforcement technology package generally costs about NT$900,000. We’ve adjusted this system slightly, so setting one up costs only NT$450,000.

In contrast, on Provincial Highway 74, also known as Taichung Ring Expressway, the equipment is much simpler. Some people wonder if the more basic version works well enough?

Chi Shun-sheng
Member of public
The equipment needs to be up to standard, so that people who have an incident are completely happy to trust it.

If a car doesn’t have a retrofitted exhaust pipe, and it gets slapped with a noise pollution notice requiring a vehicle examination, do they have any recourse?

Lin Chiung-chia
Lawyer
Citizens have the opportunity to make what’s known as a “secondary appeal,” in which they’ll have a second test to check if they have broken the law or not. If a citizen doesn’t attend that, the Environmental Protection Bureau will issue a fine, and then the citizen will have to take them to court in an administrative case.

Other drivers are asking whether, if they take a day off for the examination, and later they can prove that they don’t have a retrofitted exhaust pipe and didn’t break the law, can they get compensation for their lost day off? Lawyers say that in such a case, the driver would have a burden of proof to show that their rights had been infringed by officials. In other words, compensation seems unlikely.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

2024-11-25

Retired air force officer starts again with drones for farms

Retirement is a broad blue sky for one former air force officer, who’s now running his own drone business. Four years ago, Hsieh Chih-chin retired from the Air Force and settled in Hualien. He taught himself how to operate drones, and now uses them to spray fields in the county. It reduces labor requirements for the beleaguered farming industry. Hsieh also uses his drones to support the local fire department after earthquakes. For this retiree, learning a new skill has been the start of a satisfying new chapter.

Mask on, Hsieh Chih-chin opens the truck to get the equipment into place and get to work.

The remote control is in his hands as he deftly maneuvers the device. As soon as it’s in the air, he can spray the field. Former air force officer Hsieh is now a Hualien drone operator.

After retiring from the Air Force in 2020, Hsieh taught himself how to use a drone and got the necessary qualifications in skill such as drone operation, farm spraying and search and rescue. Now he operates a business spraying fields with drones, as well as conducting 3D modelling. He’s also used his drones to support the county’s voluntary fire department.

Hsieh Chih-chin
Retired military officer
We say it reduces labor, so you have less to do. What that means is, if you use a sprinkler maybe you need three people. But if you go with sprays, you can spray it all with one or two people, and the drone sprays more evenly.

Hsieh spotted an opportunity to bring innovation to local farmers. Hualien’s local farming population is aging, and there’s a labor shortage. It’s the most urgent crisis facing modern agriculture.

Mr. Liu
Taro farmer
It’s very hot in April and May. The taro is very tall, and sometimes you can’t see your hands. It’s exhausting.

Farmers hire Hsieh to spray their farms, reducing labor requirements. After the April Hualien earthquake, Hsieh used his drones to photograph local terrain for the Fire Department, and even to help in search and rescue efforts.

Hsieh Chih-chin
Retired military officer
Hualien has the air base, and also the civil airport. So there’s lots of controlled airspace over fields. So if you want to use drones on some controlled airspace areas, you can’t continue. It will consume a lot of time and money.

Since retirement, Hsieh has not relied solely on his military pension. He’s taught himself a new profession, making good use of his previous expertise. He also continues to teach students at the local university. As Hsieh steps into retirement, the sky’s the limit.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

2024-11-25