The Ministry of Labor is today to implement new rules limiting migrant workers’ ability to work in a sector different from the one for which they received their visa.
The new rules come as Taiwan is facing a labor shortage, due in part to a ban on new migrant workers entering the nation since May 19 amid a COVID-19 outbreak, and despite criticism that the policy does not address underlying labor market problems.
Since the entry suspension, employers of foreign caregivers have increasingly filed complaints, saying that their employees are seeking permission to leave for higher-paying factory jobs, the ministry said.
Ministry statistics showed that from January through May, 1,751 foreign caregivers had left their positions to pursue factory jobs, compared with only 287 workers in all of last year.
Under the new policy, promulgated on Friday, consent from their employer would no longer be sufficient for workers to take a job in a different sector.
Once they have left their position, they would have to register for a transfer with a government-run employment service center, which would advertise their services to employers within their current sector for 14 days, the ministry said.
If no employer in their sector would offer them a job, the center would then help them seek employment in other sectors, the ministry said.
The policy distinguishes between five industries — domestic care, manufacturing, fishing, agriculture and construction — and does not affect regulations on changing positions within the same industry, it added.
If a migrant worker cannot find a new job within 60 days of filing their transfer registration — either because they have not received any offers or because they have refused them — the workers would need to return to their home countries, the ministry said, adding that it would grant one extension to the 60-day period.
During the policy’s preview last month, labor groups, including the Taiwan International Workers Association, sharply criticized it for ignoring fundamental issues migrant workers are faced with, such as long working hours or low wages, saying that they were driving them to seek jobs in other industries.
At a protest on July 27, a caregiver from the Philippines who goes by the nickname “Lovely” said that her monthly salary is only NT$17,000, despite having almost no time off.
Most caregivers want to transfer to factory jobs where they can earn the minimum wage of NT$24,000 per month, she said, adding: “Is that greedy?”
The Workforce Development Agency yesterday said in a statement that the ministry must “prioritize” measures to ensure that foreign workers remain in jobs for which they have had professional training and for which they were recruited.
As of the end of last month, about 237,000 of Taiwan’s nearly 700,000 migrant workers were employed as domestic caregivers, ministry data showed.
Taiwan does not exclude the possibility of having formal diplomatic relations with countries that also have formal ties with China, regardless of Beijing’s stance, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Sunday. There was speculation in 2012 that Honduras was attempting to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China, an idea that then-minister of foreign affairs David Lin (林永樂) rejected. Honduras severed formal ties with Taiwan on Sunday morning after establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has taken a more practical approach to relations with like-minded countries since assuming government in 2016. Previous administrations took the
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
Taiwan would have established formal relations with Argentina long ago if not for China’s interference, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui told US-based Spanish-language online news outlet Infobae in an interview published on Tuesday. Beijing has left behind a string of unfulfilled promises in Latin America, including pledges to build the Grand Nicaragua Canal and airports, docks, ports and industrial zones in El Salvador, he said. Meanwhile, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and other countries enjoy pragmatic and improving relations with Taiwan based on cooperation on the economy, culture, technology and science, he said. While Taiwan is “happy to live and let live,”
WASHED ASHORE: Of the 16 bodies discovered along Taiwan’s west coast this month, two were Vietnamese and five were Taiwanese, coast guard officials said Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said that he has instructed prosecutors and maritime authorities to launch investigations after 16 bodies were found along Taiwan’s west coast this month, amid speculation that they were victims of smuggling or human trafficking rings. Coast Guard Administration (CGA) officials said the bodies, most of which had washed ashore, were found by coast guard personnel and local residents along the coastline from Keelung to Kaohsiung. Thirteen of the bodies are male and three are female, the CGA said, adding that items found on the bodies indicate that two of the men were Vietnamese, while three men