From last Sring. Note the final 3 paragraphs.
taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/arch … /24/133141
Council trumpets new law against workplace injuries
WORKERS’ SAFETY: The Law to Protect Workers Against Occupational Hazards will come into effect next Sunday, but foreign workers say it excludes them completely
By Tsai Ting-I
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Apr 24, 2002,Page 2
Council of Labor Affairs Chairwo-man Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday said she hoped that new legislation will make occupational accidents a thing of the past. The CLA is currently preparing for a new labor law aimed at protecting the rights of employees who are injured at work.
The Law to Protect Workers Against Occupational Hazards was passed in October last year and will come into effect next Sunday.
“The safety of workers should be employers’ most important priority. We hope that occupational accidents will eventually stop happening in Taiwan as a result of the law,” said Chen, speaking at a press conference to promote awareness of the new law.
The soon-to-be-introduced law states that all victims of occupational accidents are entitled to compensation from their employers and aid from the state for medical treatment and nursing. The law also states that a worker’s family is entitled to state compensation if the worker dies in an occupational accident.
The applies to all workers, regardless of whether they are covered by labor insurance.
After the law has come into effect, the CLA will – as required by the law – provide vocational training for the victims of occupational accidents to help them to return to work. Under the law, government departments are also required to set up a system to monitor job-related diseases and to promote occupational safety.
According to CLA statistics, 38,000 Taiwanese workers suffered occupational accidents or were diagnosed with job-related diseases last year.
Worker organizations had campaigned for the law for a decade before the CLA submitted it to the Legislative Yuan in 1998.
Ho Tuan-fang (賀端蕃), general secretary of the CLA, yesterday also promised to remove from the CLA’s regulations for the implementation of the law a clause that wanted to restrict the law’s applicability to those categories of employment listed in the Labor Standards Law.
The promise followed demonstrations that were staged at the press conference by the Taiwan Association for Victims of Occupational Accidents and Diseases, the Labor Legislation Action Council and the Hope Workers’ Center.
They groups not only protested against the above-mentioned provision in the CLA’s draft regulations – but also against the fact that the law does not apply, retroactively, to past incidents.
The groups say that the Labor Standards Law ignores domestic servants and care-givers, effectively disenfranchising 120,000 foreign migrant workers.
But Chen Chu said that, since legislation cannot take effect retroactively – unless explicitly stated to do so – it was too late to give the legislation retroactive effect.
The CLA will stage further events in Kaohsiung on April 28 to promote awareness of the law.