A ban on on-site factory dormitories is not to be imposed any time soon, because it would require amendments to the regulations, which must be preceded by inter-ministerial discussions, the Ministry of Labor said on Thursday.
Workforce Development Agency section head Hsueh Chien-chung (薛鑑忠) said the agency would have to coordinate with the Ministry of Economic Affairs on the amendments.
In May and June, various non-governmental organizations staged protests about worker housing safety issues, after two factory fires claimed the lives of nearly a dozen migrant workers in factory dorms this year.
One of the demands made by the protesters was for worker dormitories to be relocated a safe distance from factories.
The Ministry of Labor is working on new regulations to ban on-site factory dormitories and also to penalize businesses that do not implement proper safety measures for migrant workers, Hsueh said.
If approved by the legislature, the amendments to Articles 54 and 72 of the Employment Service Act (就業服務法) would lower the quota of foreign hires by five for every migrant worker death resulting from negligence by the company, he said.
In the case of injury to a migrant worker, the quota would be reduced by one worker for each incident, Hsueh said, adding that the ministry would provide more details next week.
There were 699,379 migrant workers in the nation as of last month, the latest government statistics showed.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
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