Foreign workers salaries, and room and board

Legal Legal - Work
1

An article in today’s Taipei Times says, “The Council for Labor Affairs’ Department of Labor Standards is currently looking into the possibility of deducting living expenses directly from foreign workers’ monthly salaries.”

The rest of the article is here: http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2001/06/12/story/0000089657

Right now, Taiwan’s minimum wage is NT$15,840 per month.

Aside from the important issue of how this could essentially reduce foreign workers’ salaries by some one third, allowing employers to charge their housekeepers, nannnies, etc., for room and board seems to have a huge potential for abuse – and this in an area that already has numerous examples of exploitation and abuse of workers.

Other reactions? Comments from employers?

2

Has there been any follow up on this issue? Seems like this would need some serious regulation to keep employers from charging nannies, for example, $5,000/month for a windowless closet with a dirty old matress and left-over fish bones for meals.

3

For Maids and Domestic helpers this has been withdrawn, it is meant for the foreign construction and factory workers only.
Only trouble is the Government has not reduced the monthly government fees for maids.