A lawmaker yesterday alleged that some foreign companies in Taiwan violate labor rights, with the accusation aimed especially at the US-based Motorola Electronics (摩托羅拉電子股份有限公司) company, against which a number of complaints have been lodged by former workers.
"It's surprising that half of the foreign companies in Taiwan don't have labor unions, while they all have labor unions in their own countries," said People First Party Legislator Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠).
According to a survey conducted by Chin's office of 98 foreign companies, 43 of them, or 44 percent, have no union presence. While Motorola is among these 43 companies, it allegedly dismissed an executive by force last month because he was preparing to set up a labor union at the company, Chin said.
Richard Tsuei (崔鼎昌), former public affairs manager at Motorola, said he was forced to choose between "voluntary resignation" and "termination of contract" on July 19.
"There have been too many similar cases over the past two years and will be more in the future," Tsuei said. "Workers signing the documents will enjoy no legal protection to fight for their rights against the company."
Tsuei said after he refused to sign any of the documents he was ordered to leave the company immediately under close watch by security officials.
In addition, Chin also named a string of what she said were violations against the Labor Standards Law by Motorola. Chin said the company kept no record of employee work hours and offered no overtime pay for its workers. While pregnant workers were never transferred to do lighter work, they always had to work overtime until after 10pm, Chin added.
Hsieh Chiu-ho (謝秋和), a section chief at the Taipei City Government's Bureau of Labor Affairs, said his bureau would conduct a thorough labor inspection on Motorola tomorrow based on the lawmaker's allegations.
The bureau would also offer assistance to workers intending to organize labor unions at their companies, Hsieh said.
RSS