Indonesia is revising its labor regulations with the objective of promoting “zero costs” for Indonesian nationals who work overseas as caregivers, Indonesian labor officials said on Thursday, urging Taiwanese employers to contribute to brokerage fees for Indonesian workers.
In an interview with the Central News Agency, Indonesian Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Worker head Nusron Wahid said his country is seeking to improve work conditions for its people to prevent them from being exploited.
The Indonesian government’s “zero costs” plan aims to encourage employers to cover all expenses for caregivers, including brokerage fees, airfares, visa fees, health checkup fees and job training fees, Nusron said.
Agusdin Subiantoro, deputy head of the agency, said the brokerage fees paid by Indonesia’s migrant workers in Taiwan are too high, amounting to about NT$60,000 over a period of three years.
Currently, Indonesian domestic caregivers in Taiwan earn about NT$17,000 per month.
Agusdin said he hoped the new “zero costs” plan would be embraced in Taiwan, as that would attract more Indonesian caregivers to the nation in the future.
At the end of June, there were 186,826 Indonesian caregivers in Taiwan, accounting for about 77 percent of the total number of foreign caregivers in the nation, according to statistics from the Ministry of Labor.
Foreign nationals working as domestic caregivers in Taiwan are not covered under the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) and therefore are not entitled to the statutory minimum wage and mandatory days off as stipulated in the act.
Workers have long protested these conditions, demanding higher wages, mandatory days off and exemption from brokerage fees.
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