An amendment to allow foreign workers to remain in Taiwan without having to leave the nation when they have worked for three years passed its first reading at the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee yesterday.
The amendment to the Employment Service Act (就業服務法) would allow foreign workers who have lived in Taiwan for more than three years to be rehired directly without having to first leave the nation, a move designed to benefit both employers and foreign workers.
Workforce Development Agency Director-General Huang Chiu-kuei (黃秋桂) said the revision marks a noticeable improvement in the nation’s history of human rights protection.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
In the future, all types of foreign workers can extend their work years in Taiwan without having to leave the nation and apply for a new visa, Huang said.
The new measure would not only save foreign workers time and money — with labor brokers demanding fees in their home countries — but would also help Taiwanese employers avoid periods without their employees, along with training costs, she said.
There are 595,695 foreign workers in Taiwan, about 240,000 of whom are from Indonesia, according to Ministry of Labor statistics.
Before the revision clears the Legislative Yuan, about 14,000 of them would need to leave each year to be able to continue working here, the ministry said.
In such cases, some foreign workers need to pay brokerage or other fees to re-enter the nation, the ministry said.
In some countries, brokerage fees pose a serious burden for people seeking to work overseas, it said, adding that the fee is about NT$50,000 to NT$54,000 in Indonesia, while the figure could reach as high as NT$120,000 for Vietnamese workers.
The amendments were proposed by Democratic Progressive Party legislators Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) and Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴).
Meanwhile, during a legislative meeting yesterday, a tearful Lin read her “no suicide statement,” saying that she has been threatened by some labor agencies for pushing through regulations in favor of foreign workers.
Lin said that she has received threats from labor agencies.
“Wu and I are struggling to protect the rights of foreign workers, but since we are blocking some people from making more money, some labor agencies are spreading false rumors on the Internet and have even threatened my life,” Lin said. “I therefore would like to announce that I will not commit suicide over anything, and, if I die [in what seems like an] accident, I ask that the police launch an investigation.”
Lin said that, despite being threatened, she would not give up defending foreign workers’ rights against exploitation by labor agencies, adding that she would take legal action against those who spread false rumors about her.
“It is a shame that Taiwan has often been listed as a nation with human trafficking problems by international human rights groups because of how we mistreat foreign workers,” Lin said. “We must make a change.”
REPORT: Taipei has expressed an interest in obtaining loitering munitions matching the AeroVironment Switchblade 300 or the Anduril Altius-600, ‘Foreign Policy’ said Taiwan is seeking US-made kamikaze drones in an apparent concession to pressure from Washington to focus on asymmetric capabilities to defeat or deter a Chinese attack, Foreign Policy said in a report on Wednesday. Taipei has expressed an interest in obtaining AeroVironment Switchblade loitering munitions or other devices with similar capabilities, it said, citing four sources familiar with the matter commenting on condition of anonymity. The Switchblade 300 is a tube-launched drone designed for attacking ground troops, while its larger sibling, the Switchblade 600, could be used to destroy tanks and entrenched troops. Ukraine has utilized both systems extensively in its fight against
Police officers yesterday morning apprehended the prime suspect of a triple homicide case, after raiding the suspect’s hideout in Taichung. They transported the suspect to New Taipei City for questioning and recorded his statement last night. The suspect, identified as a 24-year-old man surnamed Chang (張), is believed to have used his hands to strangle his wife, surnamed Chen (陳), 29, along with his three-year-old son from a previous marriage and his wife’s mother, 69. The three dead bodies were wrapped in blankets when they were discovered inside their apartment in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) on Saturday. Chang was holding a
Hungarian Member of Parliament Tompos Marton said he considers Taiwan to be a better alternative to China as a strategic partner. Marton, who is the vice president of the opposition Momentum Party, made the remarks in an interview with the Central News Agency on Sunday. He draped a Republic of China flag across his shoulders to protest Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) visit to the capital city, Budapest, on Thursday last week, and openly voiced support for Taiwan on social media. He said in the interview that he wanted to remind the world that there were alternatives to China, and that “Taiwan has
A female physician at New Taipei City’s Shuang Ho Hospital was bullied and made to work for 32 consecutive hours by a senior colleague while pregnant before later having a miscarriage, an internal investigation found, the hospital said on Monday. The perpetrator has been removed from his post, the hospital said. The attending physician in the hospital’s Medical Imaging Department, identified by the pseudonym Y, earlier on Monday told reporters that she had been bullied by a male senior colleague who arranged shifts in her department. In January, shortly after she became pregnant, Y asked the department director if she could avoid overnight