Foreign labor groups yesterday criticized the Council of Labor Affairs' proposed financial management system for foreign laborers, which would force foreign workers to open accounts at selected banks.
The proposed system would mean that foreign nationals intending to work here would be required to open personal accounts at selected local or foreign-owned banks before they come to Taiwan. Their employers will then remit their wages into those accounts every month after deducting manpower brokerage fees and other necessary expenditures
The council has said that this system, which is still in its early stages of development, is meant to discourage financial exploitation by employment agencies or employers.
"Whatever foreign laborers earn through their work here in Taiwan is their private possession. [Forcing workers to open] an account at specific banks is a monitoring system which invades the privacy of foreign laborers," said Chen Su-hsiang (
Chen said that the financial management system would not solve the problem of overcharging, but would actually legalize the practise of overcharging by employment agencies under the guise of "loans" or "overseas money transfers."
"Only blue-collar foreign laborers would be required to follow this system, which illustrates how laborers are treated differently [from white-collar workers]," Chen said.
Other groups participating in the press conference yesterday included the Taiwan Indonesian Migrant Workers' Association, Filipino Migrant Workers' Association and Hope Workers' Center.
The Council of Labor Affairs' Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training said yesterday that the system's purpose is the exact opposite of what the labor groups claim it to be.
"The system will be established to protect the labor, privacy and asset-management rights of foreign laborers. Those who are willing to open such accounts though the foreign exchange departments of Taiwanese commercial banks will be able have the necessary fees deducted directly from their accounts," the bureau said in a press release.
In addition to wage payments, the transactions that will be conducted through these bank accounts may include service fees to employment agencies and medical insurances fees.
Foreign workers are vulnerable to being overcharged, not being paid regularly and employment agencies' failure to pass on tax refunds to the workers.
The council initially proposed a requirement that a minimum of NT$3,000 per month should be deposited in every designated bank account, but decided against this out of respect for foreign workers' labor rights.
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