Migrant rights groups rallied in Taipei on Monday to protest a government decision that would allow the use of migrant workers as temporary workers at the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park (彰化濱海工業區) to ease labor shortages, citing occupational safety concerns.
The Ministry of Labor (MOL) has approved a proposal by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to import migrant workers to serve as temporary workers at the industrial park, according to the minutes of an MOL meeting on Feb. 25.
The workers would be managed by a third-party nonprofit group and “dispatched” to factories in the park during peak production season or when they have to fill urgent orders.
Photo: CNA
A total of 50 migrant workers would be allowed into Taiwan for this purpose, the MOL said.
However, the Migrants Empowerment Network in Taiwan, a coalition of about 10 migrant rights groups, objected to the idea, chanting slogans and holding banners at a rally outside the MOL to voice its opposition.
MOL data show that many factories in the industrial park follow strict production procedures because they handle toxic gases or organic solvents, Weng Chien-wen (翁倩文) of the Hope Workers’ Center said.
However, using temporary workers would increase the risk of occupational disasters because they lack experience, and would need to adapt to a new and dangerous labor environment every three to six months, Weng said.
Normally, migrant workers in Taiwan, whether working in a household or factory setting, work for one employer or company under the same or similar working conditions for the duration of their contract.
Labor shortages are a longstanding problem because of long working hours and low pay, unstable work days, and dangerous working environments that increase the risk of occupational accidents, the groups said.
Rather than allowing factories to profit from cheap labor, the government should focus on improving labor conditions to bolster full-time employment, they said.
The MOL said that domestic laws and regulations, such as the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法) and the Act of Gender Equality in Employment (性別工作平等法), would apply to the 50 migrant workers who would have three-year contracts with the nonprofit organizations that dispatch them.
Nonprofit groups that import workers will be responsible for the workers, including taking out health and labor insurance on their behalf, the MOL said.
MOL data showed that as of the end of May, there were 707,308 migrant workers in the nation, including 274,269 from Indonesia, 219,716 from Vietnam, 156,014 from the Philippines and 57,843 from Thailand.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
RSS