Taiwan may ban RI, Thai laborers

Taiwan may ban RI, Thai laborers

Taiwan may prevent new workers coming from Indonesia and
Thailand next year if the two countries continue to reject pay
cuts for foreign labor, an official said Friday.

The Taiwan labor authorities in November slashed minimum
monthly wages for foreign workers by as much as 25 percent from
15,840 Taiwan dollars (US$451) to offset employers' costs in
providing food and board.

The cuts are estimated to save local employers nearly $10
billion a year.

However, Indonesia and Thailand have so far refused to accept
the new terms and have stopped new workers going to Taiwan under
the new terms, according to the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA).

"We will have no choice but to freeze labor imports from the
two countries starting Jan.1 if we don't hear from them by the
end of this month," the CLA official told AFP.

Taiwan's total foreign workforce stood at 312,279 in November,
of which 223,680 were from Indonesia and Thailand while the rest
were from the Philippines and Vietnam.

But the official said the supply of foreign labor would not be
affected by the freeze, since employers could still hire workers
from the Philippines and Vietnam.

The government was also exploring the possibility of importing
workers next year from North Korea, India, Mongolia, Sri Lanka
and Myanmar, he said. --AFP