The government's plan to bring in Indian migrant workers, which was signed in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with India in February, has completed legislative review and was sent to the Legislative Yuan for approval. On the 19th, several migrant workers' rights groups called for the MOU to be changed from a review to an examination to ensure human rights protection. After proposals from the Kuomintang and People First Party caucuses, the entire case was referred to the Health and Environment Committee for review.
Shouting slogans to express dissatisfaction with the migrant worker policy, several migrant workers' rights groups protested outside the Legislative Yuan today, demanding that if the government wants to introduce migrant workers, it should eliminate broker exploitation and not allow parallel tracks between direct hiring centers and private brokers. They also called for direct hiring between countries, instead of allowing private brokers to exploit migrant workers repeatedly.
Member of the Migrants Empowerment Network in Taiwan, Hsu Wei-dong, pointed out, "The dual-track system of private brokers and government direct hiring centers has directly led to the substantial sidelining of the direct hiring center's functions. The private broker system continues to monopolize the entire migrant worker employment market, thereby affecting the overall labor conditions of local workers."
Secretary-General of the Domestic Caretaker Union, Huang Zi-hua, said, "All migrant worker hiring quotas represent a labor shortage in the industry. However, in the hands of migrant worker brokers, their goal is not to help employers find workers quickly and get them to work quickly, but rather to maximize profits using these hiring quotas."
As the government plans to introduce Indian migrant workers and signed a labor cooperation MOU with India in February, the Executive Yuan completed the review in early April and sent it to the Legislative Yuan for approval. Migrant worker rights groups also specifically called on all party caucuses to change the entire case from a review to an examination to ensure human rights protection.
Secretary-General of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Shi Yi-xiang, said, "Just this MOU, without relevant human rights safeguards, should be pulled down for substantive examination. There should be relevant members and parties to pull it down and then enter substantive examination."
In response to the demands of human rights groups, the Kuomintang and People First Party caucuses proposed in the Legislative Yuan to refer the entire case for review, and with no objections, the entire case was sent to the Health and Environment Committee for review.
The Health and Environment Committee has scheduled the Ministry of Labor to report on the Employment Service Act next Thursday (the 25th), and the issue of Indian migrant workers is not ruled out as one of the focus points for questioning.
〔PNN / Reporter Chen Jiaxin, Xie Zhenglin, Qiu Fucai / Comprehensive Report〕2024-04-19 19:31
〔Huang Yuqiao / Editor〕2024-04-19 20:52
〔Photo from Unsplash,aboodi vesakaran〕