There are many migrant workers in Taiwan and yet they are very much a minority group. This is reflected in their lack of power and influence. They have not been able to make their voices heard and society as a whole has not paid much attention to their rights.
However, in recent years, there has been an increased focus on the promotion of human rights and labor standards, and Taiwan has made significant progress in this respect.
On Jan. 11, Minister of Labor Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) said that skilled migrant workers would qualify to apply for permanent residency if they have worked in Taiwan for at least six years and their salaries meet certain criteria.
Hsu said that considering these laborers as “guest workers” over the long term is not in line with human rights standards.
The government prefers to introduce an “intermediate manpower skills plan” — allowing migrant workers to extend their stay and obtain permanent residency — rather than amend existing laws, which would be more difficult to achieve. An assessment report for the plan is to be submitted to the Executive Yuan by the end of next month.
Hsu has said that “local enterprises should continue to improve labor conditions to retain talent, although the labor shortage has been caused by the nation’s low birthrate and demographic changes.”
The Chinese Federation of Labor has opposed the policy, saying that giving migrant workers residency and more freedoms would threaten job opportunities for low-paid Taiwanese, and would have other political, economic and social impacts, for which the federation said it has yet to see necessary preparations being made.
It specified three major areas of concern:
First, the foundation is concerned that if a large number of blue-collar migrant workers acquire Taiwanese residency, this would inevitably impact the political system, and Taiwan would find it more difficult to ensure that foreign forces do not take advantage of the changes to intervene in the nation’s democratic elections.
Second, long-term reliance on blue-collar migrant workers has affected local workers’ employment choices and salaries, and has meant low wages for young workers. In addition, it has also hindered the development of labor-saving technology, such as self-driving electric vehicles and artificial intelligence, among other things. This shows, the federation says, that the mass introduction of migrant workers is incompatible with economic development.
Third, if migrant workers with permanent residency are no longer subject to agency management, and can freely choose their jobs and have multiple job options, there would be an exodus from the “3D industries,” that is, dirty, dangerous and difficult work, it said.
Furthermore, the labor retirement fund is on the verge of bankruptcy. If necessary, the government would have to provide migrant workers with vocational training, labor retirement, and other social and medical assistance.
These concerns could easily lead to the development of a “Taiwan first” policy saying that Southeast Asian migrant workers are somehow a great burden and even “a threat to our democracy.”
These objections are far from true. On the contrary, migrant workers have become an indispensable asset contributing to Taiwan’s tech industry, infrastructure and long-term care sector.
More importantly, they have made society more diverse and inclusive. Given that migrant workers play an increasingly important role, non-governmental organizations and academics have been concerned with their equal rights from the perspective of international human rights law.
Looking into Taiwan’s temporary migrant worker program, Academia Sinica law research professor Yang Ya-wen (楊雅雯) described the dilemma that such programs impose on foreign workers’ human rights and employment equality.
According to Yang, temporary migrant workers are a special kind of labor force, as they are almost completely unfree labor and deliberately cut off from society.
In contrast, especially in countries that welcome immigrants, immigration policies have been integrated into long-term labor policies, and would allow new immigrants to stay and become part of the community.
However, in Taiwan, temporary migrant workers are never expected to stay. Within this context, the introduction of migrant workers into Taiwan has had several specific policy objectives.
First, the policy approach cannot be a covert immigration policy — migrant workers must not be allowed to compete with Taiwanese for the same jobs, and the presence of migrant workers in Taiwan must not be allowed to hamper the development of industry upgrade.
These have meant that the government had to adopt some specific control measures.
With its official policy on temporary migrant workers, the government has stressed “the principle of national treatment on the right to employment” since 2000.
In other words, temporary migrant workers should receive the same treatment as Taiwanese.
The nation’s pledge to abide by Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights attests that foreign laborers working in Taiwan are subject to protections provided by the laws that apply to domestic workers.
After the government took the initiative to domestically incorporate several core international human rights instruments, the equal protection of labor conditions should be not only implemented on the policy level, it should also be legally binding.
In principle, the majority of labor laws in Taiwan are equally applied to all nationalities, and this is what the Ministry of Justice has told international experts in the first and second national report on the implementation of two international human rights covenants.
However, experts expressed deep concerns at a systemic level, indicating that migrant workers’ rights are being abused and protections for them are lacking.
That is, a series of domestic labor laws that are applicable to all workers and in line with international human rights norms is one thing; while a system that complies with a truly equal labor protection blueprint is quite another. Given the current situation, there is a significant gap between the two in terms of the recruitment of workers, excessive broker fees and restrictions on changing employers.
In response, Yang described structural limits on border controls, recommending a balanced approach that better accommodates temporary migrant workers’ rights. That is to say, let border controls stop at the border. When migrant workers enter the country, they should be subject to general labor laws, health and epidemic prevention measures, and employment regulations, rather than the dictates set by the border regime.
It is equally important, if not more, that the nation put greater emphasis on human rights education. Migrant workers and their children should be accepted into communities, and not seen as secondary citizens. Enhancing migrant workers’ rights is the right path. In particular, they should be given citizenship, which they justly deserve.
By expanding new residents’ rights and implementing international human rights standards, Taiwan would become a more open democratic society.
In the foreseeable future, when the nation confronts the Chinese Communist Party, migrant workers would nonetheless become a new force in the increasingly complex political process.
Huang Yu-zhe is a student at National Chengchi University’s Graduate Institute of Law and Interdisciplinary Studies.
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