Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (???) and a civic group issued a call Thursday for the Ministry of Labor (MOL) to speed up a job transfer application that was submitted since last year by some migrant workers at a food manufacturing company in Taichung.
At a press conference, the Taiwan International Workers’ Association (TIWA) said the group of 31 Vietnamese migrant workers had filed the request with the MOL last October, citing illegal and unfair labor practices by their employer, bakery product manufacturer Isabelle (Taiwan) Co.
The Taichung Labor Affairs Bureau gave permission for the workers to terminate their contract at the end of last year, but the MOL has not yet approved their request to apply for jobs elsewhere in Taiwan, which means they have been out of work for almost two months, TIWA member Wu Jing-ru (???) said.
“Even though some of them are allowed, under the law, to remain in the company’s dormitory, and others are being housed by the TIWA, they are under stress because they have dependent families back home who need financial support,” Wu said. “The workers themselves also need money for daily necessities.”
Such cases, however, can take six to 12 months to be processed, as the MOL usually assigns the local government Labor Affairs Bureaus to investigate the illegal or unfair labor practice allegations against the employer, according to the TIWA.
Speaking at the press conference in Taipei, New Power Party Legislator Chiu said that while the local governments are assigned to carry out the investigations, the labor ministry also has the authority to do its own analysis and determine whether to allow the transfer of migrant workers.
Chiu joined the TIWA in the calling for the MOL to speed up the process, so that the 31 Vietnamese who were employed at Isabelle can soon apply for other work in Taiwan before they run out of resources.
In response, Hsueh Chien-chung (???), chief of MOL’s Cross-Border Workforce Management Division, told CNA that the Taichung Labor Affairs Bureau was assigned on Nov. 2, 2021 to investigate the complaints filed by the Isabelle workers, and it is still probing the allegations that the company had broken the law.
The MOL has since sent two notices to the Taichung bureau, in January and February, asking for the investigation process to be expedited, Hsueh added.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel