The government would not accept the one-sided terms introduced by the Indonesian government aimed at compelling Taiwanese employers to shoulder the costs incurred by some migrant workers before they leave to work abroad, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.
The Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei on Wednesday sent a letter to the ministry stating that as of Jan. 1, Taiwanese employers would be required to pay 11 types of fees for Indonesian workers before they depart for Taiwan, Minister of Labor Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) said before a meeting at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
These include airline tickets, passport/visa fees and the costs incurred by labor brokerages in Indonesia for caregivers, domestic workers and fishers, she said.
However, the letter did not provide detailed information or clearly state how much employers would need to pay when the new terms come into force, Hsu said.
The Ministry of Labor would seek clarification, and remind Indonesia that under bilateral agreements, any changes to prior agreements need to be discussed by both countries, she said.
“If the Indonesian government implements the measures after only a unilateral notification, the Ministry of Labor would not accept it,” Hsu said.
Migrant workers and workers’ rights groups have long complained that employers do not help with any of the pre-employment costs incurred by such workers, but brokers are allowed to collect fees from them, so many workers go into debt to be able to cover the costs of obtaining a contract and visa to work overseas.
Last month the Taiwan International Worker-Employment Relations Harmony Development Association held a rally outside the Indonesian trade office.
The association, made up of many disabled people or family members of those who need care, said that they feared the cost of hiring caregivers would skyrocket if the new fees are implemented and they would not be able to afford to hire migrant caregivers.
The rally was to protest the demands made of Taiwanese employers by the Indonesian government, said Chen Shan-hsiu (陳善修), one of the demonstrators.
Protesters brandished banners and signs that read “Say NO to Indonesian Migrant Workers,” and chanted slogans calling for the Indonesian government to get out of Taiwan.
When asked by reporters who would fill the labor gap if Taiwan decided to stop importing Indonesian workers, Chen said that the government could turn to other Asian countries such as Nepal.
However, the protesters’ signs and slogans angered many in the Indonesian migrant community, with several leaders calling for caregivers and domestic workers to do only the work detailed in their contracts and refuse anything more than that.
Migrants have been urged to change their photographs on social media to an image of a Taiwanese woman breaking down in tears, with the slogan “Say no to work outside the job” as part of an effort to draw attention to the fact that many Indonesian workers are often required to do non-contract work by their employers.
For example, many caregivers are hired to take care of a single patient, but are often told they must do extra work such as cleaning houses, offices and vehicles, said Fajar, an Indonesian community leader affiliated with the Hsinchu Migrant-Immigrant Service Center and Taiwan International Workers Association.
Lennon Ying-dah Wong (汪英達), director of a service center and shelter for migrant workers under the Serve the People Association in Taoyuan, said that it would be extremely difficult to replace the more than 265,000 workers from Indonesia with people from other countries in just a few months.
He urged Taiwanese employers to try and understand the plight of migrant workers and that many have gone into debt because of large and exorbitant broker fees.
As of the end of September, there were 265,553 Indonesian migrant workers in Taiwan, with 194,254 employed in social welfare work, such as caregivers and domestics.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
RSS