The Ministry of Labor yesterday rolled out subsidies for Taiwanese manufacturers to hire unemployed industrial workers amid concerns over the economic impact of US tariffs and currency fluctuations.
The government program is aimed at rewarding manufacturers to hire and retrain workers, and create jobs by creating new positions, the ministry said.
Citing employment insurance data collated in June, the ministry said Taiwan’s manufacturing sector employed 2.06 million people and measures should be taken to protect their livelihoods.
Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
The program is to provide employers in the manufacturing sector with a monthly subsidy of NT$6,000 (US$196.92) for each worker they hire, if the worker possesses the appropriate vocational skills and has been unemployed for more than 30 days, the ministry said.
The employer would be eligible to receive the subsidy for up to six months, it said.
Employers who hired unemployed workers without the requisite skills for their new position and arranged for the latter’s retraining would receive a monthly subsidy of NT$12,000 per worker for up to three months, the ministry said.
The employer can ask for up to NT$1.8 million per year for hiring unemployed workers who need retraining, it said.
Additionally, Taiwanese businesses in the manufacturing sector would receive a subsidy of up to NT$100,000 for hiring middle-aged or older workers in cooperation with government employment agencies, it added.
Employment agencies are tasked with designing appropriate jobs for older workers and facilitating the removal of obstacles to older people in the workplace, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said the ministry would also issue guidelines and assistance programs to protect migrant workers from forced labor, after the US sanctioned Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大) over alleged worker abuse.
US Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday last week issued an order to detain imports from the Taiwan-based bicycle manufacturer, citing information that “reasonably indicates forced labor use.”
Hung on Sunday said that the action against Giant is an “alarm bell” for Taiwanese manufacturers and that forced labor use constitutes “an undeniable operational risk” to the sector.
Taiwan employed more than 850,000 migrant workers as of late last month, he said.
Taiwanese enterprises’ failure to protect migrant workers’ rights often stemmed from being unequipped to enforce labor standards, not a deliberate intent to break the law, Hung said.
Labor brokers, habitually relied upon by the nation’s manufacturers to manage the foreign workforce they employ, are often responsible for labor abuses, he said.
The ministry is preparing guidelines and an assistance program to help Taiwanese businesses comply with global standards for labor protection, he said.
It believes that the US is highly likely to have planned additional sanctions against other Taiwanese companies that are yet to be unveiled, he added.
Taiwanese enterprises must take measures to ensure each link in their supply chain is in compliance with key human rights indices lest they incur further penalties, Hung said.
The US Bureau of International Labor Affairs defines forced labor as “work or service that is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the worker does not offer themselves voluntarily.”
Most accusations leveled against Taiwanese manufacturers are related to exploitative practices targeting migrant workers, including confiscation of visas, wage theft, coerced overtime, exploitative labor agency fees and poor living conditions, Hung said.
Foreign human rights groups typically directed their criticism at the Taiwanese textile, fishing and semiconductor industries, making the US move against Giant a shock to the manufacturing sector, he said.
The ministry will continue its efforts to protect the rights and working conditions of migrant workers, especially policies aimed at eliminating placement fees, Hung said.
However, the ministry’s commitment to preventing abusive labor practices is not limited to migrant workers, it applies to the nation’s entire workforce, he said.
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