A draft act protecting dispatched workers, imposing a 3 percent cap on such employees in Taiwan’s public and private sector organizations, was approved Feb. 6 by the ROC Council of Labor Affairs.
Under the legislation, the 3 percent limit will not be implemented until three years after its proclamation so as to facilitate work force adjustments, the CLA said. This will follow a 12-month grace period after the act is signed into law.
Wang Hou-wei, director of the CLA Department of Labor Relations, said the use of dispatched labor will be banned in the occupational areas of aviation, driving, medical services, public transportation, security, ship crews—excluding fishing vessels—and mining. But the list could be expanded in the future, he added.
According to the legislation, dispatched and permanent workers will now earn the same pay for identical jobs, and labor agencies will not be able to hire persons under the age of 16 or force irregular employment contracts on dispatched workers.
ROC Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics data indicated that there were around 590,000 temporary and dispatched workers in Taiwan last year. Of these, around 10,365 were engaged in the public sector. (YHC-JSM)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw