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Taiwan suspends hiring of Vietnamese workers
January 20, 2005
Taiwan's Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) announced yesterday the temporary
suspension of imports of Vietnamese housemaids and caregivers effective today
until the high escape rate of Vietnamese workers is reduced.
CLA officials said the action is taken mainly because of the unusually high
absconding rate of Vietnamese workers engaged in the domestic help category of
jobs in Taiwan.
However, they said, the temporary employment ban will not affect directly hired
Vietnamese whose local employers agree to rehire them after their existing
three-year work contracts expire.
The officials said the CLA was forced to impose the temporary ban because the
number of runaway Vietnamese caregivers and housemaids shows no signs of coming
down.
Although the Vietnamese representative office in Taipei has been assisting in
tracking down absconded Vietnamese workers, the number of people captured has
fallen short of the target.
Some 8,000 Vietnamese workers are unaccounted for or about 9.0 percent of the
total number and this was much higher than the average 1.0-2.0 percent for
workers from other Southeast Asian countries, they said.
"We think it's better to temporarily stop the recruitment of Vietnamese over
worries that the missing workers could be treated badly or exploited if they
work illegally," CLA officials said.
There are reports that many female workers were forced into the sex trade after
they illegally deserted from their original employers.
According to the officials, Vietnamese authorities originally promised to help
track down 2,000 Vietnamese runaways by the end of last year. However, only
some 900 had been found as of the end of December.
But in recognition of Vietnamese authorities' efforts, the officials said, the
CLA will just close Taiwan's door to Vietnamese caregivers for the time being.
"We have avoided using the term 'freeze' to minimize the impact of the
measure," a CLA official said, adding that the use of the term "temporary
suspension" also marks the CLA's recognition of Vietnam's cooperation in help
track down runaways.
The official said Vietnam has come up with new plans for tracking down runaways
and curtailing a further increase in desertion. The intensified search for
absconders will continue through the end of March.
The temporary import ban can be lifted "as soon as we see a clear improvement
with satisfactory results," the official said.
Taipei just lifted last month a suspension on recruiting Indonesian workers
after a freeze was imposed in 2002.
The ban was removed after the two countries agreed to boost cooperation in
bringing down the high number of Indonesian workers who illegally left their
assigned jobs in Taiwan.
Taiwan enterprises and individuals currently employ some 300,000 foreign
workers with the majority coming from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and
Vietnam.
In addition to offering domestic help, the workers are also hired in the fields
of construction, manufacturing, fishing, and shipping.
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