OFWs demand equal rights for migrants in Taiwan

MANILA, Philippines - Despite working 15 hours a day, Filipina caregiver Marissa Fernandez is paid lower than the minimum wage in Taiwan – with almost a third of her pay eaten up by the fees that she has to pay monthly. “I work 15 hours a day, I get paid NT$15,840 a month (P22,979) — which is lower than the legal minimum wage. But then I have to pay NT$1,800 to the broker, NT$1,950 in tax, and NT$236 for labor insurance," Fernandez told the Taipei Times. Filipino factory worker Sam said in the same report that even laid-off migrant workers suffer “illegal treatment." “Because of the economic crisis, many factories are laying off migrant workers but refuse to pay us the compensation fee required by law," he said. These problems, Migrante International’s Taiwan Chapter chairman Dave Chang said, arise because domestic workers are not protected by the country’s Labor Standards Act. “I know some migrant workers in factories in Taiwan who are paid only NT$24 per hour," he said. This, in turn, prompted more than 600 migrant workers to protest at various locations in Taiwan, including the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA), Democratic Progressive Party Headquarters, and the Presidential Office last Sunday. The report said the protesters petitioned for “equal work" and “equal pay," thereby abolishing “discrimination" in the workplace. “Unequal pay among domestic and foreign workers has also increased hatred and prejudice between the two groups," they said in a statement. Most of those who participated in the protest are workers from Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines who were reportedly not protected by the Labor Standards Act and ended up the first ones to lose their jobs after Taiwan felt the effects of the global financial crisis. The CLA Department of Labor Standards Section Chief Wang Chin-yang, meanwhile, said that they have decided to hold meetings that would discuss whether to include certain workers under the Labor Standards Act, as well as whether to raise the minimum wage “in the near future." - Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV