Monday, April 30, 2007

Taiwan set to increase the salary of Filipino workers

(gulfnews.com) - While some host countries have protested the government's policy to double the monthly salary of domestic helpers, Taiwan has gone a step further and is raising their pay as global competition becomes stiff, especially with rival China, a labour official said.

Rosalinda Baldoz, chief of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said Taiwan is expected to raise the salary of commercial household helpers and factory workers from $400 (Dh1,469) to $700 (Dh2,571) a month in the near future.

"We hope to get more jobs for workers in Taiwan, especially the high-end jobs," Baldoz said.

She added the planned increase in workers' pay could have been Taipei's reaction to the "stiff competition" it faces among labour-importing countries, particularly China.

There are about 90,000 Filipino workers currently in Taiwan and most of them are factory personnel, according to the POEA chief.

Policy

In December last year, the POEA implemented a policy on the hiring of domestic helpers, which resulted in the doubling of their monthly salary, their age requirement up from 18 to 23 years old, and a ban on placement fees being imposed by recruitment firms.

Baldoz and Augusto Syjuco, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority chief, were in Taiwan recently to prepare for an upcoming meeting between the two countries' labour officials.

Baldoz said the Philippines is aiming to deploy more workers to Taiwan because of the higher wages the country is offering.

The POEA chief added the government is also working on a system where workers no longer need to wait for the expiration of their contracts to be able to complain about abusive employers and their local counterparts.

"We will pilot-test a new system where workers with complaints of recruitment violation against their employers and recruiters may file these at the POEA [in Taiwan] even before their contracts expire," she said.



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