The Taiwan International Worker-Employment Relationship Harmony Development Association yesterday called for a special law on foreign domestic workers to protect their rights and those of their employers.
Members of the association and the Association of Spinal Cord Injury Taipei, as well as 10 people in wheelchairs, rallied at Taipei’s 228 Peace Memorial Park (228和平紀念公園) calling for the right to receive better care services and to be treated with respect and dignity.
Citing a case of a foreign domestic worker unexpectedly giving birth in her shocked employer’s home, Taiwan International Worker-Employment Relationship Harmony Development Association honorary adviser Chien Li-chen (簡莉珍) said that at-home caregivers often need to perform physically demanding work, which can be difficult if they are pregnant.
Photo: CNA
After asking a caregiver to demonstrate how she would help lift a man surnamed Lai (賴) — who has a damaged spine, is 1.87m tall and weighs 85kg — from his wheelchair, Chien said that the strenuous task is performed more than six times per day and would be difficult for a pregnant caregiver.
“The work foreign domestic workers perform is different from that of foreign factory workers. If a factory worker who operates machinery becomes pregnant, she can be temporarily assigned to do product quality control,” Chien said.
“However, a pregnant domestic worker cannot perform at-home caregiving tasks, even if she changes employer,” she added.
A specialized law is needed on foreign domestic workers, who should be required to take regular pregnancy tests, to protect the rights of hardworking caregivers and their employers, Chien said.
“We need stable care services, but must also protect the rights of caregivers, because we understand their hard work to take care of us,” Lai said. “However, we do not want the Ministry of Labor to ‘kill people’ for the sake of ‘protecting human rights.’”
He said that the ministry on Oct. 22 notified agencies associated with foreign domestic workers that employers cannot ask to replace a caregiver who has become pregnant, saying that doing so would be punishable by a fine of up to NT$1.5 million (US$49,159) and a two-year ban on hiring domestic workers.
“This is torture for us,” Lai said. “If they cannot perform care work after they become pregnant, or are taken to a shelter, then who will take care of us?”
The Regulations Governing Management of the Health Examination of Employed Aliens (外國人健康檢查管理辦法) stipulate that foreign workers are not required to take pregnancy tests.
Foreign domestic workers’ labor rights are also protected by the Gender Equality in Employment Act (性別工作平等法), which stipulates than an employer cannot discriminate or fire them due to their pregnancy.
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS