Labor law and migrants
The legislature has started reviewing the draft amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法). Led by the Migrants Empowerment Network in Taiwan, nearly 100 workers staged a protest in front of the Legislative Yuan to show their discontent with the draft.
According to a statement by the group, the blue-collar migrant workers at the bottom of Taiwan’s society will be the first to suffer when the draft is passed.
The network argues that the language barrier and insufficient information are making it impossible for migrant workers to hold equal negotiations with employers, although the government has said that it is relaxing conditions and that this will be controlled through talks between employers and employees.
The group also said that although the government is making a strong push for its New Southbound Policy, it has failed to provide migrant workers with translations of the draft amendments, completely ignoring their contributions to Taiwanese society, only considering employers’ interests and ignoring the current situation, which is turning Taiwan into an island of overwork.
Since the five-day workweek came into effect at the end of last year, companies’ labor costs have increased due to increased overtime pay, as well as two different ways of calculating overtime pay for overtime on working days and overtime on rest days.
Due to the high overtime pay, many factories are no longer willing to make employees work overtime.
Migrant workers, who mostly serve as production line operators, have come all the way to Taiwan just to earn money. As they are unable to earn overtime pay under the new policy, they have no choice but to take the risk of working illegally as part-timers in rural villages or in restaurants.
Many are caught by the police and their employers are fined.
I-Mei Foods Co general manager Kao Chih-ming (高志明) in June said that some workers and working single parents want to make extra money by working overtime, but that they are unable to do so due to legal restrictions.
The draft amendments are likely to address the issue of employers being unwilling to let employees work overtime.
Moreover, according to the Ministry of Labor’s second-quarter data on the number of labor unions, there are only 1,098 industrial and business labor unions in Taiwan.
Due to the shortage of local workers, migrant workers account for 40 percent of the total number of employees in the manufacturing and high-tech sectors.
That being so, migrant workers are in fact in a stronger position than local workers in those sectors when negotiating with employers for working conditions.
Huang Chen-lun
New Taipei City
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