Migrant worker groups urge lifting of employment length restrictions

Taipei, May 18 (CNA) A coalition of migrant worker groups rallied outside the Ministry of Labor (MOL) on Sunday to call for the elimination of a rule that limits the number of years they can work in Taiwan to 12 or 14 years.

Restricting how long migrant workers can work in Taiwan is a form of discrimination, as no such limitations apply to Taiwanese workers or white-collar foreign workers, Fajar, chairperson of the migrant caregiver union SBIPT, said at the rally.

After working for 12 or 14 years in Taiwan, migrant workers have no choice but to leave the country, disrupting their livelihoods, Fajar said.

This shows that Taiwan's government does not acknowledge migrant workers' contributions and only treats them as "guest workers," which is "unacceptable," Fajar said.

In 2022, the MOL's Workforce Development Agency (WDA) launched a program called the Long-term Retention of Skilled Foreign Workers Program to try to give migrant workers a pathway to permanent residency.

According to Arrey, an SBIPT director, it lifted the restriction on how long an "intermediate skilled" foreign worker could work in Taiwan, but Arrey said the program has been plagued by a host of problems.

For example, Arrey said, under the program, industrial workers and long-term care facility workers are promised monthly salaries of at least NT$33,000 (US$1,092) and NT$29,000, respectively, higher than the minimum wage of NT$28,590.

Likewise, household workers such as caregivers who have been designated by the WDA as intermediate-skilled workers, are paid at least NT$24,000 a month, higher than the sector's minimum wage of NT$20,000, Arrey said.

In reality, however, many intermediate-skilled foreign workers are paid less than the amount promised, and those who do receive raises are assigned considerably more or tougher tasks on top of their already heavy workloads, Arrey said.

Crucially, Arrey said, the choice of whether to help a migrant worker apply for "intermediate-skilled" status lies entirely with the employer, and most employers would rather let good workers go than pay them wages that go with intermediate-skilled worker certification.

The program has also fallen short on the issue of manpower broker fees, the SBIPT director argued.

Taiwan's government allows manpower brokers to charge intermediate-skilled workers a one-time handling fee equal to one month's salary to offset the shortfall in service fees they would collect when a migrant worker attains "intermediate-skilled" status.

According to Arrey, the service fee ranging from NT$1,500 to NT$1,800 per month is reduced to NT$2,000 per year when a worker gains "intermediate-skilled" status.

The government, however, has overlooked the fact that if their contract is terminated, the handling fee will be wasted, and the worker has to pay another handling fee to find a new job, Arrey said.

Other groups that participated in the rally included the Serve the People Association, Taiwan International Workers' Association, National Domestic Workers' Union, Domestic Caretaker Union, SEBIMA, PANTURA, and GARDA BMI.

The groups delivered a petition to WDA section chief Tseng Chien-ta (曾建達), in which they demanded that restrictions on how long migrant workers can work in Taiwan be removed.

They also called for the skilled foreign worker retention program to be revised and made more fair and transparent, and reiterated their longstanding appeal that the manpower broker system be abolished in favor of a direct hiring scheme.

Responding to the groups' appeals, the MOL seemed determined to have migrant workers who want to work in Taiwan beyond the 12 to 14 year limit to earn that privilege through its Long-term Retention of Skilled Foreign Workers Program rather than finding an alternate solution.

It contended that if the limit was eliminated, it would defeat the purpose of the worker retention program and deprive migrant workers of the opportunity to upgrade their residency status.

That argument does not take into account how hard it is to meet the threshold for eligibility to apply for permanent residency, which requires migrant workers to work for five consecutive years for an employer and earn a monthly salary of twice the minimum monthly wage.

The MOL said that as of April, 46,000 experienced migrant workers had become "intermediate-skilled" foreign workers, with the number of such workers growing by about 10,000 a year.

But achieving "intermediate-skilled" status does not mean they are being paid twice the minimum wage, a bar set almost impossibly high given Taiwan's current salary levels.

Meanwhile, the MOL said that workers who have achieved that status but are getting less than the mandated salary can file a complaint through the MOL's 1955 hotline.

The agency said it also proactively verifies wage payments during the contract renewal process.

Employers found to have underpaid intermediate-skilled workers will be ordered to pay the due wages and face restrictions on future applications for intermediate-skilled workers, the MOL said.