An opposition lawmaker and a group of activists voiced concerns yesterday over a government proposal that seeks to increase the foreign labor quota from 35 percent to 40 percent as part of an effort to attract overseas Taiwanese investors.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said at a news conference that she welcomes the initiative to lure overseas Taiwanese businesspeople to return to the country, but added that the proposed increase to the foreign worker quota is the wrong approach.
The proposal outlined by the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) on Aug. 30 will only worsen the issues of low salaries, unpaid leave and high unemployment in Taiwan, Cheng said.
Increasing foreign worker quotas to help the country’s economy is akin to quenching one’s thirst with poison, said Son Yu-lien (孫友聯), secretary-general of the Taiwan Labor Front, who also attended the news conference.
Son urged the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) to review the proposal as the amount of foreign labor has already reached a record high of 440,000 and said the government should stop using foreign workers as a bargaining tool.
In response, Shiue Jain-jong (薛鑑忠), a section chief from the council’s Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training, said that companies will only be able to hire more foreign workers if there are actual vacancies, as the proposal was merely based on supplementary principles.
The issue of increasing the quota has yet to be discussed via a platform that will include the CLA, CEPD, academics, politicians and representatives from employer and labor groups, he said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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