Southeast Asian migrant workers protest Taiwan’s ‘discrimination’ in border controls
- Holidaying migrant workers, mainly from the Philippines and Indonesia, decry extra steps to return to their jobs in Taiwan
- Dozens of union and advocacy group members have protested after lodging complaints to labour officials
A union of mainly Filipino and Indonesian workers is demanding that Taiwan, stretched thin for foreign labour, scrap border-crossing paperwork that targets Southeast Asian migrants returning to their jobs from trips back home.
The Domestic Caretakers Union Taoyuan (DCU), a group of about 2,000 migrant workers, said it is unfair to make only foreign blue-collar work permit holders declare their intent to return via Taiwan’s Ministry of Labour online system three days ahead of travel.
Holidaying migrant workers must apply for re-entry permits, some have complained.
Migrants who worked in home care have also been required to quarantine after returning so as not to risk infecting children or elderly clients with the coronavirus, according to union spokeswoman Shara Marquez.
“It is about discrimination in border control for all migrant blue-collar workers,” Marquez said.
Filipinos and Indonesians normally seek work in Taiwan because jobs there pay more than those in their homelands.