Lawmakers on the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday reached a consensus that companies operating in free trade ports must ensure Aborigines account for 3 percent of their total workforce.
The committee on Wednesday started a review of the amendment to the Act Governing the Establishment and Management of Free Trade Ports (自由貿易港區設置及管理條例).
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) had sought to loosen regulations to attract more international investment.
Much of the discussion, however, focused on articles 10 and 11, which stipulate the percentage of guaranteed employment for both local and Aboriginal employees.
The amendment proposed by the Executive Yuan does not make any changes to Article 10, which requires that companies in free trade ports employ 60 percent locals. However, it proposed a change to article 11 that would drop the percentage reserved for Aborigines from 5 percent to 1 percent.
The change to Article 11 touched a raw nerve with Aboriginal legislators, with three of the six Aboriginal lawmakers — Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Yang Jen-fu (楊仁福) and Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩) — attending the committee to defend the rights of Aborigines.
Chen reiterated that only companies that have more than 100 employees can fulfill the 1 percent threshold. Currently, there are only three companies in the free trade ports that have a workforce exceeding 100 employees. She proposed that the government provide subsidies to any firm willing to hire Aborigines.
KMT Legislator Yang Li-hung (楊麗環) said free trade ports have a total of 1,435 employees. Based on the 5 percent requirement, there are supposed to be 72 Aboriginal employees. In actuality, only 55 employees are Aborigines, she said, adding that legislators decided 3 percent was more reasonable based on this figure.
“I have received complaints from companies in my district that they have a hard time following this requirement,” Yang said. “They ended up finding some Aborigines and listing their names on their payrolls, when in fact they don’t really work for the company.”
The committee eventually decided to follow the same criteria stated in the draft bill for the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Zone in determining how many employment positions would be reserved for Aborigines. Companies will also be given the same incentives stated in the airport bill. The committee is scheduled to review the airport bill on Wednesday next week.
Meanwhile, the committee decided to put Article 10 on hold for further negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties because some lawmakers have said that recruitment of local employees should be higher than 60 percent.
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