Groups advocating for the rights of migrant workers yesterday asked the Ministry of Labor to enhance labor inspections of small and medium-sized enterprises with a high percentage of migrant workers and said it must include input from migrant workers when investigating occupational injury incidents.
The nation has about 470,000 migrant workers in the manufacturing industry, data compiled by the labor ministry in 2019 showed.
While the disability rate among Taiwanese workers was 0.14, the disability rate among migrant workers was 0.489, the data showed.
Photo: CNA
The groups held a protest outside the Ministry of Labor building in Taipei yesterday morning, calling for the government to address the issue.
Two Indonesian workers who sustained herniation of intervertebral discs because of work also told reporters their employers refused to pay any compensation.
Migrant workers sign a fixed-term contract that requires them to switch jobs every three years, Taiwan International Workers’ Association specialist Chang Yu (張郁) said.
Due to their lack of job continuity, it is difficult for migrant workers to obtain certificates of occupational injuries, he said.
“The ministry’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration should immediately launch special labor inspections among small and medium-sized enterprises. That would induce employees to upgrade their safety measures in the workplace. Results of inspections must also be disclosed to the public,” he added.
Migrant workers should be allowed to participate in the labor inspections, along with the groups or lawyers that represent them, to show inspectors the issues at the workplace, he said.
The ministry should urgently host a special meeting to review complaints from migrant workers, he said.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration official Chu Wen-yung (朱文勇) said the ministry would consider whether migrant workers should be allowed to participate in labor inspections.
The labor ministry said in a statement that it has conducted 22,764 safety and hygiene inspections in workplaces of migrant workers from 2022 to last year in accordance with regulations, adding that it has ordered the suspension of construction in 186 cases and issued fines to employers in 983 cases, with accumulated fines totaling NT$69.52 million (US$2.11 million).
A list of employers who contravened labor regulations can be found on the labor ministry’s Web site, it added.
The Labor Inspection Act (勞動檢查法) stipulates that inspectors should notify employers and workers’ unions before they arrive at the workplace for labor inspections and ask them to dispatch representatives to accompany the inspectors, the ministry said.
Labor inspectors can also invite experts to examine workplace safety with them if such a move is deemed necessary and has been approved by the ministry, the act says.
Employers may not refuse or avoid labor inspections, and workers who file complaints, as well as advocacy groups or their lawyers, can provide relevant information to inspectors, the ministry said.
Migrant workers can file complaints by calling the 1955 hotline, which is available in Mandarin, English, Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese, it said.
Tackling occupational hazards faced by migrant workers has been a crucial task for the labor ministry, the ministry said, adding that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has met regularly with labor inspectors across the nation to review and improve safety measures.
Public construction project contractors that have recruited migrant workers should allow workers to receive occupational safety training, the ministry said.
Workers who have received the training would be given occupation safety cards, it added.
Since 2018, 28,438 migrant workers have obtained occupation safety cards, it added.
The ministry has also built a digital learning platform for migrant workers, which since 2020 has provided safety and hygiene courses as well as on-the-job training for workers in manufacturing and construction industries in multiple languages, including English, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese and Tagalog, the ministry said, adding that it is working on increasing the number of users of the platform.
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