Labor-rights groups yesterday urged the government to guarantee access to health entitlements for overseas migrant workers.
During a discussion panel organized by the Alliance for Human Rights Legislation for Immigrants and Migrants, civic groups slammed the government for not ensuring migrant workers took advantage of their rights.
"During their short stay in Taiwan, these migrant workers pay for their public health insurance. However, once they begin to suffer from an ailment or are injured, their employers can just send them home. Basically, these migrant workers are just contributing to Taiwan's social resources without enjoying the benefits," said Alison Del Rosario, a representative of the Hope Workers' Center.
Foreign industrial laborers have to pay for national health insurance and labor insurance, while caregivers and domestic helpers pay only for national health insurance.
"Although labor laws bar employers from dismissing employees who fall sick at work, they can readily send the workers home using other excuses. In other words, the insurance policy is rarely honored and workers rarely have their illnesses treated," Del Rosario said.
Another labor-rights group discussed the reasons why foreign migrant workers abandon their jobs.
Sanctions
"Recently, the Council of Labor Affairs has been considering placing sanctions on Vietnamese workers due to a high rate of abandoning jobs. These workers have been called `runaways,' a word which has negative connotations," said Jimmy Chao (趙俊明), a labor-relations specialist at the Rerum Novarum Center.
"These workers are breaching their labor contracts only in that they are not completing their agreed period of service. However, these people are not criminals," he said.
Chao listed the four major reasons that cause migrant workers to leave their jobs: intolerable work conditions or exploitation by employers; improper management practices at employment agencies which lead to duress; employer abuse; and the inability to seek help when experiencing difficulties.
"Another situation these workers face is that they prefer not to visit the doctor should they have physical discomfort because they are afraid of being repatriated if something is diagnosed," Chao said.
The numerous health checkups migrant workers are required to take do not apply to other foreign employees.
"Before the migrant workers arrive in Taiwan, they first have to have a physical examination in their home countries. Once they get here, they are subject to additional checkups. However, professional foreign athletes are exempt from consecutive checkups," said Li Hsiu-li (
Diseases
In response, the government said that Southeast Asian countries were being monitored as potential sources of transmissible diseases.
"The reason why these migrant workers are subject to subsequent checkups is that we are more aware of transmissible diseases that spread from Southeast Asian countries," said Wang Ren-te (
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS