OFW layoffs in Taiwan ceased in February

MANILA, Philippines - The massive firing of Filipino workers in Taiwan has stopped, at least for the month of hearts. The Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), the country’s de-facto embassy in Taiwan, reported that employers have been convinced to halt the lay offs and instead enter into flexible work programs. “Meco also negotiated with the Taiwan Council on Labor Affairs to relax its rules on quotas for foreign workers to give employers more flexibility in retaining their overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)," MECO resident representative Antonio Basilio said. Basilio reported that as of the end of January, MECO had assisted 4,740 displaced OFWs from 95 companies mainly from the manufacturing sector. It also facilitated the entry of some 4,445 new workers to Taiwan over the same period, for a net job loss in Taiwan of 295. Prior to the US-led financial crisis, Taiwan’s manufacturing industry employed 160,000 foreign workers, including 100,000 in the electronics industry. More than 60,000 OFWs worked in different factories mostly in the electronics sector while 27,000 Filipinos work in the services sector and in other industries which were not hit hard by the crisis. Labor Secretary Marianito Roque affirmed Basilio’s observation saying that four months after the first batch of OFWs returned home as some factories closed shop due to the US-led economic crisis, the firings have stopped. Taiwan, one of the hardest-hit in export dependent countries in Asia and which fired the bulk of some 5,404 retrenched OFWs, has not been terminating workers for quite some time now. “They can’t fire anymore," Roque told GMA News, “Otherwise, they would lose their foreign labor quota." - GMANews.TV