SOCIAL WELFARE GROUPS CRITICIZE FOREIGN CAREGIVER POLICY|擬放寬外籍看護"外展服務" 社福界反彈

The Ministry of Labor announced that they plan to relax regulations to allow more people to hire hourly-paid foreign caregivers. Social welfare organizations held a joint press conference on August 13th to criticize the Labor Ministry's policy, which they say is a rash and irresponsible decision that fails to consider its overall impact. ==CHEN CHIECH-JU, Director General, Taiwan Social Welfare League== I'm not sure if the government is working to protect foreign workers or local workers. The Labor Ministry's attitude is despicable. Social welfare organizations criticized the Labor Ministry for interfering with the Long Term Care 2.0 plan. They said the Labor Ministry's plan to allow more foreign workers to work as caregivers is a poor decision since the new plan may pose a threat to the livelihood of local home caregivers. ==LIN LU-HUNG, Chief of RD, Peng Wan-Ru Foundation== I'm very concerned. We worked hard to persuade the government not to open the market for elderly care to foreign workers because Taiwanese caregivers are getting less work. The government needs to deal with the root cause for the lack of caregivers in the LTC services market, instead of just introducing more foreign labor. Less jobs for Taiwanese caregivers means their livelihood may be at risk. Social welfare groups urged the Labor Ministry to encourage local caregivers by creating more jobs for them, instead of bringing in more foreign workers. ==TU HSIN-NING, Director General, Taiwan Home Service Strategic Alliance== The Labor Ministry has been training and promoting recruitment for new caregivers, but now it's also brining in foreign labor. These are contradicting policies and make no sense. I hope the Labor Ministry can rethink its decision. Also, the Executive Yuan needs to integrate LTC plans of different agencies. Social welfare organizations made a joint statement and called on the Labor Ministry to incorporate the opinions of all sides. Also, government agencies should coordinate their efforts in the LTC plan implementation to avoid inconsistencies in their decisions. In response, the Labor Ministry said they will work with other agencies before they finalize their plan. TRANSLATED BY：CHRISTINA LIU 日前勞動部，宣布要研擬放寬、外籍看護工「外展服務」政策，這讓許多社福單位，發出反彈聲浪。更在今天，召開記者會，痛批勞動部，為了要趕上政府的「長照2.0」進程，沒有進一步的影響評估，就拋出不成熟的政策，非常不負責任。 ==台灣社會福利總盟理事長 陳節如== 它到底是要救外勞 或是要救我們本勞的工作權 勞委會(勞動部)的這個態度 非常的可惡 社福團體提出質疑，痛批勞動部「亂入」長照2.0政策。因為勞動部，沒有提出外籍看護工「外展服務」計畫的3年成效和評估，就研擬要放寬適用對象，這可能將對本國籍居服員，造成極大影響。 ==彭婉如文教基金會研發部主任 林綠紅== 我們自己非常憂心的是 上一次 苦口婆心的 去勸他們不要開放 85歲輕度失能 開放外勞 （後續）不管在家事的市場 或居照的市場 其實所有的人的 服務量都掉下來 為什麼在那個 整個長照人力長久以來 會呈現比較困難的狀況 而不是 不去面對問題 直接只是用外籍看護工開放 去解決這個問題 服務案量下滑、衝擊本國籍勞工生計，社福團體也認為，勞動部應該要促進本國籍的照顧人力回流，而不是以人力不足為由，就不斷的擴大外籍看護工的條件。 ==台灣居家服務策略聯盟理事長 涂心寧== 勞動部 你的一邊訓練(居服員) 一邊給就業獎勵 一邊去開放外勞 這樣的政策 你難道自己不會神經錯亂嗎 所以 請勞動部要三思 那另外 我還是要提醒一下 還是要看到行政院的 整個長照的整合 社福團體聯合發表聲明，建議勞動部，應該要多方採納民間單位建議，並在參與長照政策時，和各部會配合，讓長照能「一條鞭」進行，而不是各忙各的。對此勞動部官員表示，目前整體方向都還沒有定案，也將會和相關部會整合，不會貿然施行。 記者 曹晏郡 張梓嘉 台北報導