The Council of Labor Affairs yesterday confirmed that Chuang Yung-ho (莊永和), a Taiwanese who died along with six foreign laborers when a scaffold collapsed off a freeway on Thursday last week, was an employee of a construction company working on the project, making it possible for his family to receive labor compensation.
Chuang is survived by his wife, who will be able to collect NT$100,000 (US$3,230) in relief funds and 45 months’ worth of average salary in compensation for the work-related death.
The issue of whether Chuang was an employee or an employer was raised when council officials were told that a contractor had shared the profits of the project with Chuang, who illegally hired foreign workers to work on the project.
Photo: CNA
However, an investigation by the council confirmed that -Chuang was employed by Kuo Teng Construction Co, the construction company in charge of the development project, and affirmed that Chuang’s family would be eligible for compensation.
Chuang died alongside six Indonesian workers. The accident took place when a 50m high, 80m wide section of scaffolding collapsed from Freeway No. 6’s Beishan Interchange (北山交流道) in Nantou County and sent large concrete slabs hurtling to the ground in the worst industrial accident since construction of the freeway began.
The six Indonesians died on their first day of work. Two other workers were injured in the accident.
According to the council, the Indonesian workers were working illegally, as the contract prohibited such hiring, prompting council officials to vow to enforce a crackdown on undocumented foreign workers, as well as domestic employers and contractors who illegally hire migrant workers.
The council has an annual budget of NT$10 million to reward people who inform the council of runaway workers.
However, the National Expressway Engineering Bureau yesterday dismissed the council’s allegations that Kuo Teng had illegally subcontracted the construction to another contractor that hired illegal laborers from overseas.
“Kuo Teng is the only contractor in the project,” bureau -director-general Tseng Dar-jen (曾大仁) said. “The company did not subcontract the construction to other suppliers.”
Tseng said the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法) states that a contractor may subcontract to other suppliers or purchase labor services through other supporting contractors.
“The former requires the approval from the bureau,” Tseng said. “In the case of the latter, the contractor does not need the approval of the bureau.”
The bureau said the purchase of labor service means the main contractor provides machinery and construction, while the supporting contractors only recruit workers.
Council statistics show that since Taiwan began to allow workers from countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam in 1990, the number of recorded runaway foreign workers has surpassed 90,000.
While about 60,000 runaways have been caught and repatriated, there are more than 30,000 people still unaccounted for, official tallies show.
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