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.
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