A coalition of labor rights advocacy groups on Friday rallied outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, demanding a substantive review of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on sending Indian workers to Taiwan.
After Bloomberg last year reported that Taiwan could recruit up to 100,000 Indian workers, there was a backlash, indicating differing opinions on the matter, which would impact local and migrant workers, Taiwan International Workers’ Association member Hsu Wei-tung (許惟棟) said at the rally.
When the Ministry of Labor announced that an MOU had been signed on Feb. 16, it “caught everyone off guard,” Hsu said, criticizing the ministry’s “covert” approach to the issue.
Photo: CNA
The MOU, which still has to go through certain formalities involving the Cabinet and legislature, shold subject to a substantive review by the legislature, just as economic treaties between Taiwan and other countries are, he said.
Taiwan Association for Human Rights researcher Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔) said the content of the MOU has still not been made public.
The legislature needs to determine whether the MOU incorporates crucial elements of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the International Labor Organization conventions, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Shih said.
If not, Taiwan and India should renegotiate and amend the MOU, he added.
Several lawmakers, including the Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) and Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Chen Gau-tzu (陳昭姿), have called for the recruitment of Indian workers to be conducted using a government-to-government (G2G) model, Hsu said.
The planned recruitment of Indian workers could be an opportunity for Taiwan to establish a G2G recruitment system and renounce the much-criticized labor brokerage system, which has seen brokerages monopolize almost all job openings and charge migrant workers high job placement and monthly service fees, Lin said.
Hsu urged the government to adopt South Korea’s recruitment model, which enables migrant workers’ home countries to share information on migrant workers with overseas offices set up by the South Korean government.
The information is then uploaded onto a Web site set up by the South Korean government where employers can select the workers who best fit their needs, he said.
The ministry said Taiwan’s existing recruitment channels include a G2G model, and the specifics about the recruitment of Indian workers would be ironed out with the Indian government, local Chinese-language media reported.
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