Taiwan should take steps to prevent local human smuggling rings from beguiling legally imported foreign caretakers and housemaids into fleeing from their original employers to illegally work at factories, a Vietnamese official said yesterday.
The official at the Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei said that some Vietnamese caretakers were seduced into working at local factories upon their arrival at CKS International Airport or Kaohsiung Airport.
As of the end of last year, about 40,000 Vietnamese citizens had been allowed to work in this country.
The number was relatively small compared to those from other Southeast Asian countries, but the ratio of Vietnamese workers absconding from their legal employers was the highest.
The Vietnamese official said that most of his runaway compatriots were tempted by human smuggling rings into leaving their employers to work at factories.
"As such a practice is illegal, those workers would be repatriated once they were discovered by police. Many of them ended up in a miserable situation," the official said.
Responding to the Vietnamese official's complaint, a Council of Labor Affairs official said most Vietnamese workers obtained work permits to serve as family helpers or caregivers.
"Such jobs require longer working hours and are not subject to the protection of the Labor Standards Law (勞基法). This may be the main reason behind the high percentage of Vietnamese workers absconding from their legal employers, " said Liao Wei-jen (廖為仁), a section chief in charge of foreign labor affairs at the council's Employment and Vocational Training Administration.
In comparison, Liao said, jobs at manufacturing companies are subject to better legal protection.
RSS