Changes to Taiwan’s controversial five-day-workweek policy, initially expected to be approved last Friday in the Legislative Yuan given the majority held by the ruling party, was surprisingly deferred and rescheduled to early next month after a successful filibuster by the opposition.
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party was one vote short of preventing the Kuomintang (KMT) proposition for unlimited speaking time in the debate, Taiwan Apple Daily reported.
With their speaking time thus unlimited, KMT politicians launched a filibuster. Chen Yi-ming spoke for 30 minutes and Chiang Wan-an for two hours until 5:30pm, the official end of the session, meaning that the debate had to be adjourned until December 4.
Meanwhile, more than 100 protesters led by labor representatives cheered for the deferring of the passage of the amendments.
On Thursday morning, some protesters were arrested after splashing red paint on several government offices, including the Executive Yuan, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the Presidential Office building.