Over 90 percent of voters want better rights for foreign workers
Taiwan News
Date: 2017/10/07
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – According to the preliminary results of a mock referendum
Foreign labors in Taiwan shout slogans during a May Day rally in Taipei, Taiwan, Sunday, May 1, 2016. Thousands of protesters from different labor groups staged a rally on a street to ask for raising minimum wage and shorter working hours. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
on foreign workers’ issues in Taiwan, more than 90 percent of those polled say the laborers should be free to change employers.
The poll is being held from September 17 until December 10, with the final results to be announced at a migrant workers’ parade on December 17, the Migrants Empowerment Network in Taiwan (MENT) told the Central News Agency.
The first phase of the vote saw a total of 2,447 people, including 2,109 foreign laborers and 338 interested Taiwanese citizens, take part in the mock referendum, CNA reported Saturday.
The three topics up for a vote in the first phase included the protection of caregivers and housemaids by labor laws, the right to change employers freely, and the replacement of private labor brokers and middlemen by government-to-government labor recruitment. [FULL STORY]