MOCK REFERENDUM:A Taiwanese surnamed Lu said she supported legal protections for caregivers because that would mean a guaranteed level of benefits from their employers

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 18, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Three issues related to migrants’ rights being voted on in a mock referendum garnered more than 90 percent support, mostly from migrant workers, but the results were not received positively by Ministry of Labor officials.

Of the 2,447 people who participated in the vote, 2,424 demanded legal protections for live-in caregivers and 2,413 supported the right of migrant workers to switch employers without restriction, said the Taiwan International Workers’ Association (TIWA), which staged the mock referendum.

The third issue on the ballot was about the private employment brokerage system, which has been criticized for charging migrant workers high fees.

An appeal for the system to be abolished and replaced by one mediated by the governments of Taiwan and the migrants’ source nation received 2,415 votes, the TIWA said.

The vote was not restricted to migrant workers, with 338 ballots cast by Taiwanese, it said.    [FULL  STORY]