Good news for migrant workers in Taiwan especially for our ‘kababayans’ there!
Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor has approved a new regulation, which grants migrant workers (including OFWs) of paid leave, yup, you’ve heard it right, (paid) leave, atleast for migrant workers who works in Taiwan for (more than) a year.
So, what kind of ‘leaves’ does this new regulation approves?
Marriage leave, Bereavement leave, (bereavement is a period of grief and mourning after a death, especially of a loved one), yes, every workers do really need this kind of leave, and the third one is personal leave.
Once the conditions are met, and if some (stingy) employers still won’t grant their workers a paid vacation or a paid leave, they will be slapped with a fine of equivalent to P 98,196 up to P 490,983.
Hooray for Taiwan’s government and Ministry of Labor for this one! (MOL)
This new regulation will benefit the 130,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan, who mostly work in factories and IT-related assembly company.
But it appears that this new regulation (is just an added bonus) considering that Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor granted foreign workers a 5% minimum increase early this year.
It’s a good thing that the government of Taiwan decided to make a new regulation that benefits their migrant workers, those people are one of the driving forces of their economy by the way, and this new regulation sends a message that they do really care about their migrant workers, they know that it is NOT only the salary that they need, they also have other needs as well, such as ‘leaves’ for the important and unexpected moments in their life, it sends a message to the world that says: “We do care about our migrant workers, your people are safe here”
We can only hope that our Asian neighbors, and yes, all countries around the world would follow suite, to take care of their migrant workers, because these people took a great risk on leaving their own countries, just to find bigger opportunities overseas. Governments, no matter what form they are, have this great responsibility of taking care of their migrant workers, they are also foreigners, and taking care of a visitor in their homes is no different from taking care of their migrant workers.
Indeed, Taiwan’s new regulation is a good news for all of our ‘kababayans’ there.