Two groups -- Filipino workers and Filipino- Taiwanese -- stood out among labor protesters on International Workers' Day Sunday because they had extra grievances to air against the government.
While domestic labor rights groups still dominated the agenda of the protests, which were held to demand Taiwan's government carry out immediate reforms to the labor law, these two groups simply wanted to change the fact that they are not even protected by that law.
The first group, Filipino migrant workers, are denied coverage because of profession.
Despite some improvements, those who work as home caretakers, many of whom are from the Philippines, are still being exploited and receive unfair treatment, said Dave Chang, Chairman of the 2,000-member strong Migrante International Taiwan Chapter, a local organization that supports the rights of migrant workers.
To come to Taiwan, migrant caretakers must go through a broker system that absorbs most of their monthly wages, demands long working hours without overtime pay, and provides no off-days, he said. Caretakers usually have to work for 24 hours a day.
In addition, Chang said these caretakers receive a monthly salary of NT$15,840, far below the minimum monthly wage of NT$17,880 set by the government, because these workers are not covered by the Labor Standards Act.
"And 99 percent of migrant workers' passports are kept by the employers or brokerage agencies to prevent them from escaping (Taiwan)," Chang said.
According to him, both political parties -- the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) -- have failed to address the issue, but the KMT "at least has been more willing to have dialogue with us, " which was not the case during the DPP administration in 2000-2008.
Another group that turned out en masse were those who have Republic of China (ROC) passports, but not full-fledged rights as citizens. These are overseas Taiwanese who grew up in other countries, and as a result, do not carry the identification card that most Taiwan citizens have, the prerequisite to registering for national labor and health insurance. The government has denied this group an identification card since 1991, when it instituted tighter border controls.
Even after moving to Taiwan, they must stay for at least six years before they can apply for permanent residency and gain the benefits of public insurance programs.
Dozens of members of the Concern Alliance for Filipino Chinese (CAFC) turned out on Sunday, carrying signs with slogans, such as "stateless," to voice their dissatisfaction.
The alliance said many of its members have to leave Taiwan once every six months to maintain their legal residence status in Taiwan.
"These people have been labeled by the immigration law as 'ROC nationals without citizenship', " said Lorna Kung, Chief Executive Officer of Scalabrini International Migration Network Taiwan and a CAFC consultant. "I don't think you can legitimately explain what a 'national without citizenship' is. It is ridiculous."
A report conducted by the Control Yuan in January stated that out of the more than 60,000 ROC nationals without citizenship, more than 2,000 are Filipino-Taiwanese. The report recommended a national panel on human rights be convened to tackle this issue.
There are about 800 Filipino-Taiwanese in our membership, said a core CAFC member surnamed Tsai.
Tsai, who obtained his identification card prior to 1991, said he joined the organization because he wants to speak out for other Filipino-Taiwanese so that everyone can enjoy the same rights. By Chris Wang CNA Staff Reporter enditem/ly