Runaways prompt meeting with Vietnamese officials
The high number of Vietnamese migrant workers who have abandoned their jobs has prompted the Council of Labor Affairs to meet Vietnamese representatives in search of a solution.
"As of Aug. 31, a total of 7,441 [Vietnamese workers] had abandoned their jobs with whereabouts unknown," said Tsai Meng-liang , a section chief at the council's department of foreign labor affairs. In August, the rate of runaway Vietnamese migrant workers -- 9.39 percent -- was the highest among migrant workers. The rate for Filipino workers and Thai workers is relatively low -- 2.5 percent and 1.6 percent respectively. Most of the workers involved were caregivers.
Bureau figures showed that as of last month, there were a total of 80,892 Vietnamese migrant workers in the country, of which 61,751 were caregivers attending to the elderly or the disabled. "There are a number of reasons that can account for the high rate of runaways, such as mistreatment by employers and taking up illegal work to get higher pay," Tsai said. Several media reports have revealed that a number of employment agencies are deliberately bringing in workers to supply illegal labor.
Because the number of Vietnamese caregivers makes up about half of the entire caregiver workforce, any action against Vietnamese migrant workers would result in a shortage of caregivers.Labor regulations disallow an employer from applying for a replacement worker if a migrant abandons his or her job.Last month, the council informed the Vietnamese government that there was a high number of runaways.
By Cody Yiu - Taipei Times - October 12, 2004
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