The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus gave up its initial plan to block the government from recruiting immigrant laborers, following Huapan Co's decision to reduce its compensation claim from Thai laborers to NT$1.
The KMT caucus had said earlier yesterday that it would pass laws to ban the recruitment of immigrant laborers should the government fail to resolve the lawsuit Huapan Co filed against the Thai laborers within three months.
However, after Huapan Co announced later yesterday that it would reduce be reducing its compensation claim from NT$19.67 million (US$596,060) to NT$1, KMT Legislator Tsao Erh-chang (曹爾忠) said that it would not implement the ban.
"We have no complaints if the compensation is only NT$1. However, [whether it was proper to sue the laborers] is a matter of right or wrong rather than just a problem with the amount of compensation," Tsao said, saying Huapan is not a legal brokerage firm.
The KMT caucus yesterday hosted a forum and asked Deputy Minister of the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Su Li-chiung (
Taking into consideration the potential impact of any ban on industry, Su told KMT lawmakers that the council would fully assist the laborers with their litigation.
"While the case is going through the judicial process, exerting pressure on Huapan Co through the government's `administrative power' is one possible avenue by which to demand it give up the lawsuit," Su said in the forum.
During the forum a number of KMT lawmakers criticized the officials for not providing enough assistance to the Thai laborers.
"It is so embarrassing that such vicious maltreatment of these people, who were working as virtual slave laborers, is happening in Taiwan," KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-min (
Shuai added, "If the CLA had accused Huapan Co of labor abuses when the Thai laborers staged a riot against the company's poor treatment last August, would the company have had the chance to sue the laborers today?"
KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (
"How dare the company ask the Thai laborers to pay NT$19.67 million compensation, which is nearly NT$8 million more than the figure of NT$12 million it gave for losses after the riot," Lai said.
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