Hundreds of migrant workers and their supporters took to the streets of Taipei yesterday, calling for equal treatment of long-term caregivers.
The march, which is held every two years, had “care justice” as its theme, with demonstrators calling for equitable treatment for elderly and disabled people, their families, foreign caregivers and housekeeping staff.
The protesters, including people from the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, as well as union representatives and student and civil groups, called for an end to the private brokerage system in favor of a direct nation-to-nation hiring system to allow migrant workers to change employers more easily.
Photo: EPA-RITCHIE B. TONGO
Chuang Hui-ling (莊惠玲), a migrant worker representative and head of the Scalabrini International Migration Network in Taiwan, said there are about 770,000 people in Taiwan in need of long-term care, of whom 450,000, or 58 percent, are cared for by family members and 230,000, or 30 percent, by foreign caregivers.
Four percent are taken care of in institutions, while the remaining 8 percent use government services, Chuang said.
Liu Hsiao-ying, a counselor with the Hsinchu Catholic Diocese Migrants and Immigrants Service Center, said family members or foreign caregivers spend up to 14 hours a day for an average of 10 years working for people with long-term care needs.
“This is a tremendous burden to [the employees] physically and emotionally, but the issue has not been recognized or heeded by the government or society,” Liu said.
“Migrant workers want to see the end of a rule that requires them to leave Taiwan for at least one day after the expiration of their standard three-year work contract, Chuang said.
The march started on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building and ended at the campaign headquarters of Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) after passing Taipei Railway Station.
Organizers handed over a petition outlining their demands at the headquarters.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique