She said the council has taken a "detached" attitude toward the issue and still does not understand the plight of foreign workers.
Although the council offers hotlines for workers to report fraudulence or abuse by brokers or employers, it may not have taken into consideration the possibility that the means for foreign workers to fight for their rights may have been taken from them upon arrival, she said.
Kao told the reporter that the primary task for the council now should not be explaining itself to the US.
Instead, it should figure out why the country's foreign labor policies have been criticized by the international community and local NGOs, she said.
The government should admit that foreign workers are important to the country, and thus should offer them "positive and good working conditions," Kao said.
Nguyen Peter Van Hung, executive director of the Vietnamese Migrant Workers and Brides Office, said that the office is very "concerned" about the downgrading.
He believes this serves as a "warning for the government to put more effort" into ensuring foreign workers' human rights.
"Because of the bondage to the broker, they [the workers] cannot control their lives," he added.
Labor Rights Association Policy Section convener Tang Shu (
Tang said that foreign workers will become even more exploited if their basic minimum wage is canceled, as the Chinese National Federation of Industries suggested during a preparatory meeting for the Conference on Sustaining Taiwan's Economic Development last week.
The relationship between local and foreign laborers may worsen, if this happens, he said.
RSS