Workers’ groups on Tuesday called on the Ministry of Labor to drop a plan that would require migrant workers planning to change jobs to go through a government-run employment service agency, with priority being given to workers transferring to a similar line of work.
Given the rising number of foreign caregivers transferring to industry jobs, the ministry announced plans to amend the Directions of the Employment Transfer Regulations and Employment Qualifications for Foreigners Engaging in the Jobs Specified in Items 8-11, Paragraph 1, Article 46 of the Employment Services Act (外國人受聘僱從事就業服務法第46條第1項第8款至第11款規定工作之轉換雇主或工作程序準則) to govern such transfers.
The proposed changes would require foreign workers planning to change jobs to apply with a public employment service agency, which would draft a three-party agreement between the worker, the former employer and the new employer.
A group of foreign workers on Tuesday staged a protest against the proposed changes in front of the ministry building in Taipei.
Many people think that foreign workers wanting to change jobs are “jumping ship” or “cheating their employers,” but what is really driving them is the poor environment for long-term healthcare workers, Taiwan International Workers’ Union member Chen Hsiu-lien (陳秀蓮) said.
Caregivers earn just NT$566 a day, with long working hours and little to no leave, she said.
The ministry had promised to hold public hearings about the amendment, but have failed to follow through, she said.
Long-term healthcare workers have a hard job and many receive below minimum wage, with no days off, said a Filipina called Lovely, adding that many hope to transfer to factory jobs where they can receive regular pay.
The union called on the ministry to halt the amendment process and convene public hearings to hear their concerns.
Taiwanese law should offer better protection to foreign caregivers and step up efforts to rectify flaws in the nation’s long-term healthcare system, it said.
The ministry said the proposal was prompted by concern over the sharp increase in foreign workers transferring to other types of work, with official statistics showing that for the first five months of this year, 1,751 foreign caregivers had shifted to factory jobs, from 287 for the whole of last year.
The ministry added that it has never prohibited foreign workers, including victims of human trafficking, sexual harassment or assault and physical mistreatment, from seeking employment in other lines of work if their future employer could submit the proper paperwork.
All suggestions regarding the proposed amendments are welcome until Aug. 9, the ministry said.
Two people were killed and another nine injured yesterday after being stung by hornets while hiking in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳), with officials warning against wearing perfume or straying from trails during the autumn to avoid the potentially deadly creatures. Seven of the hikers only sustained minor injuries after being stung along the Bafenliao Hiking Trail (八分寮) and made their way down the mountain with a guide, the New Taipei City Fire Department said. Four of them — all male — sustained more serious injuries and were assisted when leaving the mountain, the department said. Two of them, a man surnamed
Recent movements by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have been “highly unusual,” but the military maintains a grasp of the situation, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said on Friday, after the military for the first time said it was monitoring troop movements in China’s Dacheng Bay (大埕灣). The minister gave the remarks to reporters before appearing at the legislature on the first day of its new session. The Ministry of National Defense on Thursday evening released an air force surveillance photograph of a PLA Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, and said it was monitoring the PLA Rocket Force and ground
‘ABNORMITY’: News of the military exercises on the coast of the Chinese province facing Taiwan were made public by the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday Taiwan’s military yesterday said it has detected the Chinese military initiating a round of exercises at a bay area in coastal Fujian Province, which faces Taiwan, since early yesterday morning and it has been closely monitoring the drills. The exercises being conducted at Fujian’s Dacheng Bay featured an undisclosed number of People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) warplanes, warships and ground troops, the Ministry of National Defense said in a press statement. The ministry did not disclose what kind of military exercises are being conducted there and for how long they would be happening, but it did say that it has been closely watching
China’s Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong has asked foreign consulates in Hong Kong to submit details of their local staff, which is more proof that the “one country, two systems” model no longer exists, a Taiwanese academic said. The office sent letters dated Monday last week to consulates in the territory, giving them one month to submit the information it requires. The move followed Beijing’s attempt to obtain floor plans for all properties used by foreign missions in Hong Kong last year, which raised concerns among diplomats that the information could be used for
RSS