Taiwan's unemployed call for more government help

The Taiwan Labor Front (TLF,台灣勞工陣線), a labor rights organization, yesterday appealed to the Executive Yuan for additional assistance for the unemployed.

The nation's unemployment rate has reached 3.7 percent. Taiwan's entry into the WTO is expected to increase the jobless rate as it will lead to heightened competition with foreign businesses.

Labor representative Tung Yong-sheng (童湧昇), founder of the Self Help Association at the Kuo-feng Corp's (國豐興業) Taoyuan factory, said that workers hope the government will set aside special funds of up to NT$1 billion to provide more services to the jobless.

"Current programs and services to assist unemployed laborers are handled by different departments of the central government. We worry that expenditure to ensure labor rights will be cut back whenever government agencies' budgets are tight," he said.

Tung said that the government should arrange more inter-departmental meetings to coordinate programs to help the unemployed and demand local governments carry out the programs with specially allocated funds.

"Local governments are currently suffering from a lack of tax revenues to handle such matters," he said.

Tung's association is composed of 103 workers who lost their jobs after their factory closed in January. The company still owes them money, including severance pay, and they are living on unemployment insurance. "Many of us have large mortgages to pay off," he said.

Current laws demand employers and employees share the monthly payment of 6.26 percent of the wages for labor insurance. When a worker's job is lost due to the closure of his or her place of work, an unemployed person can request unemployment insurance at 60 percent of his or her previous wages for up to six months.

Chang Feng-yi (張烽益), secretary general of the labor group, said that 60 percent of one's previous wages as insurance cover was insufficient after losing a job. "Higher insurance should be given to a person who is the chief breadwinner in a household," he said.

Sun Yo-lien (孫友聯) from the organization said many laborers laid off recently were middle-aged and that the current system established to support only the unemployed individual was inadequate when most middle-aged jobless have families to feed.

"We are used to labor-intensive work. We have energy, but no special skills. It is difficult for us in our middle age to find new jobs," said Tung, who said the government should use special funds to support the unemployed for a longer period of time.

The labor organization said many employers tend to falsely reduce their labor insurance fund liabilities by reporting to the labor insurance authority lower wages than the employees actually receive. The falsely reported wages can go as low as less than NT$20,000.

"Such misconduct impairs the rights of the unemployed because they can claim much less unemployment coverage than they deserve," Sun said.

He said the lack of interaction between labor and the taxation authorities allowed the continuation of such fraudulent claims.

On the other hand, households of the unemployed can apply for social security payments ranging from NT$10,000 to NT$20,000 per month.

The requirement for eligibility is that each person in the household of the unemployed person has less than NT$8,000 to NT$12,000 -- depending on the area -- to live on per month.