Guidelines on female migrant workers draw mixed reactions

Taipei, Jan. 9 (CNA) Guidelines recently released by the Ministry of Labor (MOL) to better inform female migrant workers who are pregnant or have young children about their rights in Taiwan have drawn mixed responses from civic groups.

The guidelines, released on Monday, bring together information scattered across the jurisdictions of several government agencies that female migrant workers can refer to when they become pregnant. For example, one rule states that they can reach a mutual agreement to dissolve their contract with their employers after they become pregnant and are entitled to a 60-day leeway period to rest after childbirth before they have to start looking for a new employer.

The document is available in Chinese, English, Bahasa Indonesia, Vietnamese and Thai. The guidelines, however, drew criticism from the International Association of Family and Employers with Disabilities, which described them as "intentionally playing up the importance of migrant workers' families" and "neglecting the mission of their jobs."

The primary goal for migrant workers who have come to Taiwan should be to work, not to have children, the association said in a statement on Wednesday.

The MOL should immediately rescind the guidelines, which put the rights of women and children before the needs of families that recruit live-in caregivers, infringing upon their welfare, it said.

In response, the MOL said migrant workers have the same right as Taiwanese workers to decide whether to have children and, like their Taiwanese counterparts, are protected by the Gender Equality in Employment Act, which governs maternity leave, and other applicable laws.

Crucially, the guidelines also point employers of migrant live-in caregivers to short-term and respite care services which they can use if their caregiver becomes pregnant, the MOL said.

The guidelines do not undermine the rights of people who hire migrant workers, the MOL said, adding that it would discuss with the Ministry of Health and Welfare how to improve existing supplementary care services to better address the needs of people should their caregiver become pregnant.

Serikat Buruh Industri Perawatan Taiwan (SBIPT), a union made up of Indonesian caregivers working for Taiwanese families and in nursing homes, said that it respected the association's opinion and acknowledged that pregnant caregivers could put care recipients and themselves in danger if they continued to work.

However, Taiwan has the Gender Equality in Employment Act and international anti-discrimination conventions have been enshrined into local law to prohibit the dismissal of pregnant workers, the union said in a statement on Thursday.

Despite these efforts, sexual discrimination still exists in Taiwan, SBIPT said.

If certain groups disregard the right of migrant workers to become pregnant and flout international conventions, their suitability to hire such workers should be questioned, and they risk tarnishing the image of their country, SBIPT said.

In practical terms, if these groups continue to discriminate against pregnant migrant workers, they should consider hiring male migrant workers exclusively, it argued.

Meanwhile, Lee Kai-li (李凱莉), a director in charge of migrant affairs at the Garden of Hope Foundation, commended the MOL for publishing the guidelines, which she said conveniently bring together the majority of rules and regulations regarding migrant workers in one place.

However, she pointed to a major omission -- the document neglected to mention the legal liability of employers should they break these rules.

Noting that many employers who illegally fire pregnant migrant workers have gone unpunished after paying the workers severance, Lee said she hoped the guidelines would serve as a reminder to the authorities that the law must be enforced.