A NEW LIFE: Migrant workers affected by the bridge collapse in Yilan earlier this month have been given assistance by the Ministry of Labor to find new work

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 26, 2019
By: Staff Writer, with CNA

The Ministry of Labor will grant fishermen affected by a bridge collapse in Yilan earlier this month, who are looking to move to factory jobs, an extended period in which to find work, a labor official said on Thursday.

Six fishermen — three Indonesians and three Filipinos — were killed when a port bridge crashed onto boats below at about 9:30am on Oct. 1. The incident also left 18 migrant fishermen — 14 Filipinos and four Indonesians, whose sole accommdation was on the boats — homeless.

Paul Su (蘇裕國), deputy director of the Cross-Border Workforce Management Division of the ministry’s Workforce Development Agency, said that the paperwork for five of the Philippine fishermen who want to transfer to factory jobs will be issued next week.

“Once they have their paperwork, they can register for factory jobs. If they do not find jobs within 60 days, we will allow them to extend the period for another 60 days,” Su said during the world conference of the International Christian Maritime Association in Kaohsiung that began on Monday and ended yesterday. “We will allow the extension because this is a special case.”
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