Immigrant domestic helpers, caregivers and activists gathered in front of the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) yesterday to present a petition calling for their inclusion in the Labor Standards Law (勞動基準法).
Because home workers, such as caregivers for the elderly and children, are not covered by the Labor Standards Law, neither foreign nor Taiwanese home workers would see their wages affected by the expected minimum wage hike.
This is unfair, said advocates from the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants, Migrant International and others yesterday.
"Home workers are expected to work like robots whenever they are needed and at all hours," said Wong Ying-dah (汪英達) of the Taiwan Migrants' Forum. "Yet their rights are unprotected due to their exclusion from the Labor Standards Law."
No officials were on hand to accept the petition because it dealt with a known issue that the group had already informed the Council about in advance, CLA official Tsai Meng-liang (蔡孟良) told the Taipei Times by phone yesterday. Tsai is in charge of foreign labor issues at the CLA's Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training.
Tsai said that the reason the Labor Standards Law is not applicable to caregivers and domestic helpers is because they do not follow a standard workday.
"Nobody would be able to afford caretakers if they had to pay them overtime," Tsai said.
"However, the CLA is looking into ways to protect the rights of these workers," he said. "Partial inclusion in the Labor Standards Law or enacting a separate law are possible solutions."
About 20 to 30 workers and activists were present in front of the CLA building yesterday. Migrant workers at the gathering would speak only on the condition of anonymity.
"They are afraid that speaking out in public might be grounds for being expelled from the country," said Shih Hsin University assistant professor Chen Hsin-hsing (陳信行), one of the participants at the protest.
A female foreign laborer who declined to be named said: "We are at the mercy of our employers until we are protected by the law."
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