The Migrant Empowerment Network in Taiwan (MENT), an alliance of migrant workers associations, called out the Taiwan government in a protest on Monday for the lack of streamlined operations for the direct hiring of migrant workers.
Holding a press conference at the Labor Ministry’s Direct Hiring Service Center in Ximending, MENT criticized the effectiveness of relevant government agencies. It said that migrant workers are forced to rely on intermediaries or manpower agencies. MENT pressed for a review by the Labor Ministry on the direct hiring process to ensure that migrant workers’ rights and interests are protected.
The seven relevant government agencies being referred to are the Direct Hiring Service Centers, the Employment Service Centers, the Immigration Agency, the National Health Insurance Administration, the Center for Disease Control, the National Taxation Bureau, and the Labor Insurance Bureau.
MENT said that there is a lack of coordination among government agencies citing how the Direct Hiring Service Centers accept documentation but do not coordinate with other agencies, which creates obstacles. MENT also pointed out how Employment Service Centers operate inconsistently from office to office and do not offer substantive job-matching functions.
In addition, MENT highlighted the language barrier saying that a number of agencies such as the Immigration Agency, the National Taxation Bureau, the Labor Insurance Bureau, and National Health Insurance Administration do not provide multilingual services on their forms or other informative media. As a result, tax refunds or labor insurance benefits may be misappropriated, workers might miss important details, and people may even be deported.