A mock referendum on migrant workers’ rights initiated by the Taiwan International Workers’ Association began yesterday at Taipei Railway Station, with nearly 60 foreign workers calling for equal political rights.
About 650,000 migrants work, live and pay taxes in Taiwan, but they cannot express their opinions about policies related to their rights, association member Betty Chen (陳容柔) told a news conference in front of the station’s south gate yesterday.
“Through this mock referendum, we hope to underscore the fact that the nation’s migrant workers have no political rights,” Chen said.
Photo: CNA
The mock referendum included three issues: whether migrant caregivers should be protected under the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), whether foreign workers should be able to freely change employers, and whether the government should abolish the private employment brokerage system and replace it with a nation-to-nation mechanism.
Even though the referendum has no legitimacy, it can encourage more migrant workers to stand up for their rights, Hsinchu Catholic Diocese social worker Lydia Nieh (聶永莉) said.
Many other groups supported the cause at the news conference.
“People said that society would become chaotic if women could vote. Actually, a society only becomes chaotic when it cannot accommodate other people,” Awakening Foundation secretary-general Chyn Yu-rong (覃玉蓉) said.
“Giving migrant workers suffrage is not unprecedented. Some European countries have already achieved that,” she added.
The association has set up 15 voting stations for the referendum in Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung.
“We welcome both Taiwanese and foreigners who feel connected to the issue to vote,” Chen said, adding that people can only vote once and should present their identification cards or passports.
The mock referendum started yesterday and is to open every two weeks until Dec. 10, she said, adding that the results will be announced during a migrant workers’ parade on Dec. 17.
As of June last year, there were 214,023 migrant caregivers working for households in Taiwan, with 175,803 from Indonesia, 27,885 from the Philippines, 9,825 from Vietnam and 510 from Thailand, a survey by the Ministry of Labor published in December last year showed.
The average monthly salary of a foreign caregiver was NT$19,643, while their regular monthly salary was NT$17,449, the survey found.
For more detailed information about the mock referendum, visit the “Migrant Workers Referendum” page at www.facebook.com/MWReferendum.
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