The Indonesian government has proposed that Taiwanese employers pay six types of costs when hiring migrant workers from the country to relieve the workers of most of the burden they are currently forced to bear, the Ministry of Labor said on Thursday.
The proposal is seen as a compromise after a meeting between the two sides. The ministry has rejected a previous proposal that Taiwanese employers pay 11 types of fees.
The six types of fees include roundtrip airfares, visas costs, labor brokerage fees, verification fees for employment contracts, and accommodation fees for the workers ahead of leaving Indonesia.
The costs per worker would total about NT$23,700, the ministry said, citing an estimate by the Indonesian government.
Other fees would be paid by the workers, including costs for passport processing, COVID-19 testing, health checks and criminal record certificates, Deputy Minister of Labor Wang An-pang (王安邦) said, adding that the Indonesian government also proposed to pay some of the placement costs.
The Indonesian Ministry of Manpower said in a statement that the proposed policy would protect migrant workers from excessive fees.
The Indonesian ministry would review the regulations and hold further discussions with relevant agencies and brokers, it said.
Taiwan and Indonesia have been at odds over a regulation Jakarta introduced in July last year that exempts certain migrant workers from placement fees and requires employers to pay the costs. The policy, which applies to Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong and 10 other countries, was initially to be implemented in January, but was postponed to July.
Indonesia initially said that it had reached a consensus with Taiwan on the issue, a claim that the Ministry of Labor denies, saying that Jakarta unilaterally drafted the policy.
The two sides have also been also at odds over Taiwan suspending the entry of Indonesian migrant workers from Dec. 4 last year, citing unreliable COVID-19 testing in the Southeast Asian nation.
The two sides later that month held a virtual meeting, but could not resolve the disputes. Two more meetings were canceled by the Indonesian government.
Thursday’s virtual meeting was attended by Ministry of Labor officials and Benny Rhamdani, head of the Agency for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers.
Wang said that employers previously paid two of the six types of fees proposed by the Indonesian side: contract verification fees and airfares.
The Ministry of Labor would focus on the four remaining fees in future discussions, Wang said.
Due to time constraints, it only raised questions on accommodation fees during the meeting, he added.
The ministry does not think this part of the proposal is reasonable, as Jakarta did not define a standard for the quality and duration of accommodation, he said.
Further details would be discussed through written communications, Wang said.
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