Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor (MOL) has announced new rules aimed at limiting migrant workers’ ability to transfer to new jobs across different sectors despite criticism that the policy ignores conditions that are driving the trend.
The new restrictions, which take effect Sunday, come as Taiwan faces a labor shortage caused in part by its decision to suspend the entry of migrant workers on May 19, as the country battled a large-scale COVID-19 outbreak.
At the same time, an increasing number of Taiwanese employers have complained to the government that foreign domestic caregivers working for them have pushed for permission to move into higher-paying factory jobs.
According to MOL statistics, a total of 1,751 caregivers had left their jobs in favor of factory work through the end of May this year, in comparison to only 287 people in all of 2020.
Under the new policy, a final version of which was released on Friday, migrant workers will no longer be able to transfer to jobs in other industries simply by obtaining permission from their current and future employers, the ministry said.
Instead, they will have to register for a transfer at a government-run employment service center, which will advertise their services to employers within their current sector for a period of 14 days.
Only if no employers express interest in hiring them during that period will the employment service center begin helping them seek out job opportunities in other industries, the ministry said.
The policy distinguishes between five industries – domestic care, manufacturing, fishing, agriculture and construction – and does not affect current regulations on changing employers within the same industry.
If a migrant worker cannot find a new job within 60 days of completing their transfer registration, or after one extension, either because they have not received any offers or because they have refused them, they will be required to return to their home country, the ministry said.
When the MOL previewed the policy last month, groups including the Taiwan International Workers Association (TIWA) sharply criticized it for ignoring the fundamental issues – such as long hours and low pay – that were driving caregivers to seek jobs in other industries.
At a protest on July 27, a Filipina caregiver who identified herself by the nickname “Lovely” told CNA that she received a monthly salary of NT$17,000 (US$610), despite having almost no time off.
Most caregivers in Taiwan want to transfer into factory jobs so they can earn the minimum wage (NT$24,000 per month), she said, asking “is that greedy?”
The MOL, however, decided not to alter the plan, arguing that it must “prioritize” having foreign workers remain in the sectors in which they have professional training and which they were recruited to Taiwan to do, an official at the ministry’s Workforce Development Agency said in a statement Saturday.
As of the end of July, around 237,000 of the nearly 700,000 migrant workers in Taiwan were employed as domestic caregivers, MOL statistics show.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel