Migrant workers rally in Taipei for justice and dignity

On December 13 amid the bustling Sunday crowds, immigrant workers from all over Southeast Asia gathered in Taipei Main Station’s main hall for a biennial migrant workers rally. At the event, in addition to English and Chinese, migrant workers used the four languages of Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai and Filipino to express their demands. According to statistics from the Executive Yuan’s Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, by the end of July this year, migrant workers will already have exceeded 580,000, which is the equivalent of 5 percent of Taiwan's total labor force – the salary of migrant workers usually falls between 15000-17000 NTD.

Migrant workers in the manufacturing industry exceed those working in social welfare, but they are not given a reasonable pay for working overtime on weekends. Foreign workers in social welfare include family caregivers as well as domestic workers. The period that migrant workers in the social welfare field can stay in Taiwan has gradually increased from 3 years at the outset, to 12 years currently. In the face of an aging society, the government of Taiwan does not seem properly prepared for the long-term care of its population, but of course is willing to let foreign workers fill the gap in the interim period.

However, a lack of protection of their working environment, such as excessive overtime work and no private space, leaves migrant workers in an exhausted state of mind, which in turn affects their quality of work. Those shouting slogans to retrieve basic human rights were not doing so just for themselves, but for all migrant workers who face unreasonable working conditions and are unable to take a vacation.

Migrant workers rally in Taipei for justice and dignity 

URL：https://www.peopo.org/news/294741 

(以下是中文對照)

移工大遊行台北登場 盼照顧正義與勞動尊嚴

照片

台北車站大廳在12/13周日湧入大量人潮，兩年一度的移工大遊行，聚集了台灣各地的東南亞移工，現場以越南、印尼、泰國、菲律賓四國語言以及中英文，強烈地表達訴求。根據行政院主計處統計，到今年7月底外籍勞工已突破58萬人次，相當於台灣總勞動力的5%，他們的薪水大約落在15000-17000之間，其中產業外勞人數多於社福外勞。產業外勞主要在製造業工作，面臨周末加班工時卻低落的問題。社福外勞則包含了家庭監護工以及幫傭，居留年限自剛開放時的三年逐漸擴增，到現在已經可以待到12年，面對高齡化的社會，台灣政府似乎還沒做好妥善長照的準備，反倒讓外籍看護以青春填充這段過渡時期。

但是缺乏保障的勞動環境，像是超時工作、無私人空間等，都使移工心神疲憊，進而影響工作品質。他們高喊著口號想找回基本人權，不只是為了自己，也是為了更多沒假可放，身在不合理勞動環境中的外籍移工。