Lawmaker wants protection for part-time student workers

Students with little experience in the job market need safer and more reliable ways of finding jobs to avoid being ripped off by their employers, a legislator said yesterday.

"At their age, students usually don't have the ability to adequately judge the merits of a particular job, or the possible risks," said PFP legislator Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋).

"We have seen students not getting paid for their work, being sexually harassed and even sexually assaulted in the workplace."

Working part-time has become common among students and a system is badly needed to filter job information so students can better understand which work environments are suitable for them and which are safe, Chou said.

He said the Ministry of Education, the Council of Labor Affairs and the National Youth Commission could cooperate with the private sector to launch a job database for students.

Advertisements could be verified before they are posted on a Web site designated for use by students, and safety information and other guidance could also be made available, Chou said.

Of those who responded to a recent poll conducted by the Students' Council at Tamkang University, 87 percent said that part-time jobs can involve an element of danger, 84 percent said that they were concerned about the possibility of being harmed by employers or other employees, and 82 percent thought that poor working conditions were a pitfall of working part-time.

"Since some students are at a bit of a disadvantage in the workplace, it would be better for them if they could find work that does not take advantage of them," said Wang Yung-chih (王永志), chairman of the Students' Council.

Lin Yi-min (林益民), director of teenage culture at the Career Foundation (導航基金會), confirmed that over the past three years, his foundation has handled a number of cases in which students were injured or were cheated at work.

While assistance can be offered to students through the educational system, teachers can do more than just remind students of the potential risks, Lin said.

Lin proposed that the Ministry of Education launch a Web site for teachers to share information and coordinate the development of guidance materials for students.

In response, Yang Chuen-shen (楊春生), an inspector from the Ministry of Education's Committee on School Discipline and Moral Education, agreed that Chou's and Lin's proposals were worth considering.