The Garden of Hope Foundation on Thursday urged the government and employers to implement measures to safeguard migrant workers’ human rights.
According to the group’s most recent survey, 69 percent of migrant workers have not been taught to observe work safety, while issues of work discrimination and illegal overtime persist.
Incidents of migrants having their passports confiscated and illegal curfews also persist, according to the survey.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
The foundation was shocked that workplace bullying occurred even at the Ministry of Labor, adding that domestic and foreign workers’ rights should be protected, said Kaili Lee (李凱莉), director of the foundation’s migrant services division.
Lee was referring to Ministry of Labor Workforce Development Agency branch director Hsieh Yi-jung (謝宜容), who was recently accused of bullying a subordinate who committed suicide on Nov 4.
More than 80 percent of those polled were not aware of the channels for making complaints about gender discrimination or harrassment, while 23 percent said their jobs had not publicized information regarding sexual harassment prevention, the survey showed.
Thirteen percent of those polled said their jobs had not disclosed channels of complaints regarding workers’ rights, while 31 percent said they were forced to work overtime and 30 percent said they had been discriminated against, it showed.
Maryknoll Society House Father Chen Chih-jen (陳智仁) said he had helped found the Tanzi Ugnayan Training Center in 2003 and that the establishment helped promote basic human rights for migrant workers.
However, violations of workers’ human and labor rights are still common in Taiwan, Chen said, citing the confiscation of workers’ passports as an example.
When workers called the 1955 labor complaint hotline, they were told that not having a passport is not a severe issue, Chen added.
Human and labor rights infringements, such as demanding workers remain on boats on a typhoon day, are being looked at by an increasing number of international organizations, companies and governments, Taiwan Association for Human Rights member Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔) said.
Isaac Yang (楊冠義), a Malaysian who has resided in Taiwan for 16 years and founded the Canaan Project, said he benefited from the “points system” and was able to continue to live in Taiwan, but added that there were some policies that could be changed.
As an example, Yang cited regulations that migrant workers employed by companies with less than NT$10 million (US$306,814) in capital must have a salary equal to at least twice the minimum wage to apply for permanent residency, which he said only serves to drive away people from Southeast Asia hoping to move to Taiwan.
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