Labor groups yesterday called on the government to abandon old ways of thinking that see the exploitation of migrant laborers as the only way to boost economic development.
"We have heard that the government might repeal the minimum wage standard for migrant laborers in an upcoming economic conference, and we urge it to drop this wage-cutting policy," said Hsieh Chuang-chih (謝創智), Secretary-General of Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCTU).
Hsieh made the appeal with two labor groups, the Taiwan Labor Front (TLF) and Rerum Novarum Center, in a press conference yesterday at the Legislative Yuan.
The groups held the press conference to express their opposition to the government's intention to loosen its migrant labor policies.
Under the regulations in the Labor Standard Law (
Although the minimum wage standard hasn't been adjusted upward for more than 10 years, rules that ban discrimination between domestic laborers and migrant laborers have been challenged by businesspeople in recent years.
"Representatives of associations of industry and commerce have over and over again demanded that migrant laborers be exempted from the minimum wage standard," said Sun Yo-Lien (孫友聯), director of TLF.
Sun said that the demand had been rejected in an economic conference in 2001 and by legislators during a review of an amendment to the Statute for the Establishment and Administration of the Free Trade Harbor Zones (自由貿易港區設置管理條例).
The matter should not be discussed again, Sun said.
"Labor groups will strongly oppose the policy as it violates human rights, and will ask related officials to resign should it become a government policy," he said.
"The policy would not only cause discrimination based on the nationality of laborers but also worsen the unemployment rate among domestic laborers," Hsieh said.
Meanwhile, labor groups also urged the government to resist pressure from business groups and not relax regulations on importing migrant laborers.
Hsieh said that lowering labor costs to make profits was of no help to the government in encouraging the upgrading of industries and sustainable economic development.
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