Taipei rally voices migrant workers' anger over work-year limit

Taipei, Dec. 7 (CNA) Around 1,000 people attended a Migrant Workers Rally in Taipei on Sunday to appeal for an end to the work-year limit that will be soon sending some of them home and to question the working conditions they face.

"I'm sad, confused, angry, disappointed. It's a mix of feelings," said Indonesian manufacturing worker Ignas at the rally themed "Abolish the work-year limit."

The 46-year-old Ignas, who is employed by a meat processing factory, has worked in Taiwan for 11 years, one short of the limit he faces.

"The contribution of migrant workers [to Taiwan] is very big, and as a form of respect and appreciation, why are we not given the freedom to continue working and stay here?" Ignas said.

Taiwan is currently home to 800,000 migrant workers. Under current regulations, those involved in blue-collar jobs in construction and manufacturing can stay and work in Taiwan for a maximum of 12 years, while caregivers can work for up to 14 years after meeting certain criteria.

Ignas said most experienced migrant workers have become "very skilled in our line of work," and he could not understand why the Taiwanese authorities would "cut us off just like that, just because of this 12- or 14-year limit."

Another participant closing in on when she will be forced to leave Taiwan was Indonesian caregiver Fajar, who told CNA she has been in Taiwan for 12 years.

"If I have to go back, of course we feel like we are being thrown away," the 46-year-old said, adding that it would be "difficult" for her to readjust to life in Indonesia given the social and economic ties she has built in Taiwan over more than a decade.

Noting that the Taiwanese government often touts its commitment to human rights and democracy, Fajar asked: "Why are migrant workers like us still continually marginalized?"

She also argued that abolishing the work-year limit could reduce the number of migrant workers who go under the radar and work illegally in Taiwan, as many choose to do when they reach the 12- or 14-year cap.

Wu Jing-ru ((吳靜如), spokesperson for event organizer Migrant Empowerment Network in Taiwan, said that as Taiwan is facing a labor shortage, the government should let experienced migrant workers stay instead of continuing to rely on brokers to bring in new ones from abroad.

"This is not a good way for Taiwan to retain skilled workers," she said.

A different demand

A Filipino factory worker at TaiDoc Technology Corp., a New Taipei-based medical technology company, told CNA she joined the march to protest strict rules imposed by her company's management.

The 24-year-old worker, who declined to give her real name due to fear of reprisal by the company, said management imposed "unnecessary" rules on the workers, such as controlling when they are allowed to go to sleep in the company-managed dormitories.

Aided by a translator, the worker said conditions had improved since a company union formed, with TaiDoc letting workers come and go from the dormitories more freely.

"We don't want to change the whole system," she said. "We hope it will keep improving, and we hope to get paid fairly."

In late November, TaiDoc responded to union accusations that it imposed overly strict management rules on migrant workers, saying that the union's claims were biased and inaccurate.

TaiDoc said that its dormitory management practices are based on the need to ensure environmental cleanliness, order and residential safety. After gathering feedback from all migrant workers, the company has adjusted and relaxed some of the measures, it said.

In response to the rally, the Ministry of Labor reiterated in a statement that its Long-term Retention of Skilled Foreign Workers Program, introduced in April 2022, allows admitted migrant workers to remain in Taiwan without being subject to the work-year limit.

As of late November, around 60,000 migrant workers had been admitted to the program since its inception, an average increase of more than 16,000 per year, the ministry said.