An opposition legislator and an alliance promoting domestic help service legislation unveiled what they called "a workers' version" of a domestic service law yesterday.
Legislator Joanna Lei (雷倩) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the alliance, which was formed by the Taiwan International Workers' Association (TIWA) and other civic groups, called a press conference at the Legislative Yuan to call attention to the need for legislation to protect the rights of workers in the domestic service sector.
rights of workers
Lei noted that domestic helpers and caregivers are currently excluded from the nation's Basic Labor Law, which protects the basic rights of workers.
She added that "disadvantaged" foreign domestic helpers or caregivers sometimes suffer even more unfair treatment and abuses than their Taiwanese counterparts.
With the government stalled on such legislation, the alliance has worked with legislators to unveil the workers' version of a domestic service law in the hopes of prodding the government to act swiftly to come up with their own version, Lei said.
She said that society needs to learn to tolerate the ever increasing number of immigrants to Taiwan, whether they be foreign laborers or spouses of Taiwan nationals, and give them fair treatment lest they become a "time bomb" in society.
caregivers
Ku Yu-lin (顧玉玲), TIWA secretary-general, said that although the population of domestic helpers and caregivers in Taiwan is almost 300,000, with more than 130,000 of these being foreign laborers, they have no laws to protect them.
Ku said that the alliance completed the workers' version of a domestic help service law after more than two years of efforts.
The workers' version regulates the working conditions in the domestic service sector and sets out the responsibilities of laborers, employers and brokerage agencies.
Endorsement of the bill is currently being solicited from legislators from across the party spectrum, she added.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the