An Indonesian caregiver in Hualien has complained that her employer put her to work tending chicken and cutting pork, and that she did not have enough time to sleep, prompting an Indonesian official to suspect she was being exploited in Taiwan.
The Indonesian worker, identified only by the first letter of her surname, C, vented her complaints on Suarabmi.com, an Indonesian Web site.
The worker, a self-described devout Muslim, said that in addition to taking care of older people at her employer’s home, she was asked to cut pork, clean pork hair, feed chickens, and help her employer sell chicken and pork at the local market.
In her post, she said she had to get up at 3am every day and work until midnight, meaning she only has about three hours of sleep each night.
An Indonesian labor official who saw the post said the worker’s employer might have broken the law by asking her to do things not listed in the employment contract.
Agusdin Subiantoro, deputy head of Indonesia’s National Agency for the Protection and Placement of Indonesian Migrant Workers, told the Central News Agency that the worker’s job broker was duty-bound to cancel her work contract if it was found to have been violated.
Subiantoro threatened to revoke the broker’s license if the broker refused to take responsibility for the suspected exploitation of the worker.
Karen Hsu (徐瑞希), an executive with the Global Workers’ Organization, Taiwan, who has looked into the matter, said the worker has been mistreated, because her employer has not shown respect for her by asking her to work with pork.
Hsu said Hualien County officials have tried to get more facts about the worker’s complaints, but have not been able to obtain them because of the language barrier.
She said the worker’s plight does not seem to have improved.
Hsu said her organization has filed a complaint with the authorities and requested an investigation.
She agreed with the Indonesian official that long work hours and non-contractual work could be cited to charge the employer with exploitation.
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