CLA chair favoring business owners, labor groups say

Several labor rights groups, led by the Taiwan International Workers' Association, issued a joint statement yesterday accusing Council of Labor Affairs Chairman Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) of appeasing business owners at the expense of laborers.

The statement said that the council had done nothing to improve the rights and well-being of workers since Lee replaced Chen Chu (陳菊) as the council's head in the wake of a riot by Thai citizens working for the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp.

The Thai workers were protesting maltreatment.

The statement said that Lee had made a series of proposals that favored business leaders at the expense of workers' rights, particularly those of disadvantaged migrant workers.

For instance, the statement said, the minimum wage set in the Labor Standards Law (勞工基本法) to protect the rights of marginal workers has remained at a low of NT$15,840 for nearly 10 years, and the labor council has not taken any steps to push for adjustments.

Worse still, the statement said, Lee had recently unveiled several recommendations to be discussed at the upcoming Conference on Sustaining Taiwan's Economic Growth that cater to the needs of business owners, such as allowing companies requiring special manufacturing procedures or night shifts to recruit cheaper foreign laborers.

Such proposals, if adopted, would only further hinder wage hikes for local blue-collar workers, the statement said.

It also criticized harsher penalties for foreign workers who have absconded.

The statement said that the council should study why migrant workers abandon their jobs, instead of just punishing captured absconders.