Foreign workers protest discriminatory contract renewal practise / 剝皮 外籍工籲廢除3年出國一日規定　　　　　　　　　　

According to current regulations, foreign workers' contract has to be renewed every three years, and when that happens they must leave the country for at least one day before they return. And the problem is that when they leave the country, they must pay brokers or agencies again to come to Taiwan. On Sunday, 1,000 foreign workers took to the streets, demanding that the government amend the law and abolish the practice. 1,000 foreign workers took to the streets to protest Article 52 of the employment service act. This article forces foreign workers to leave the country for at least one day, after working for three years, even if they have their contracts renewed. It means that they have to pay brokers fees again. This Vietnamese worker has worked in Taiwan for 8 years and has had to leave the country twice when his contract was renewed. His broker made US$5,500 and US$7,300 respectively. ==AH JIA foreign worker== My wage is NT$20,000 a month, then after rent and food, I send the rest home, there's not much money left, but I have to pay the broker so much money, that a whole year's money goes to paying that fee off. After working for three years, foreign workers are forced to exit the country for a minimum of one day. They are then forced to pay broker's fees of NT$80,000 to NT$150,000. When they start work, they have to pay off this debt first before they can earn anything. Foreign workers' support groups point out that this was originally to prevent workers becoming naturalized as Taiwanese. Now that the immigration law has been amended, it is clearly stated that foreign blue collar workers cannot emigrate into Taiwan and become citizens. Since that is now clear then there is no need for the compulsory exit and payment of brokers' fees. ==Taiwan International Workers' Association WU JING-RU== We hope the government will abolish the rule on exiting the country every three years. If a worker wants to go back to see their family, they can discuss with their employer and arrive at a mutually agreeable time. After the law passed the first reading, it was slow to progress, then recently, some employers questioned that amendments to the law would not allow them to change to better foreign workers if they wanted. Thus foreign workers' support groups stood up to speak against this attitude and to urge domestic labor groups to discuss the issue together with their own concerns. They call on the Democratic Progressive Party to swiftly pass the amendments on the second and third reading to enhance Taiwan's protection of human rights to an international level. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 近千名外籍勞工，走上街頭，扛著自製的假人皮，來諷刺就業服務法第52條規定，是對外籍勞工剝皮，因為，依現行規定，外籍勞工受僱用滿三年，如果要續聘，就必須先出境一天，才能再回台工作，像這位，從越南來台工作8年的阿甲，就曾經二度出境，要再回台前，卻被國外仲介，收取5500和7300美金的仲介費，讓他真的吃不消。 ==外籍勞工 阿甲== 我底薪只有兩萬塊而已 啊兩萬塊然後 租 吃 生活費 寄回去 沒有什麼錢 而且還要還(仲介費貸款)那個錢 一年多的工作 來還那筆錢 外籍勞工三年必須出國一次，不少人，因此被收取台幣8-15萬的仲介費，來台後，工作就是先還債，聲援移工的團體則指出，當初，就服法的規定，是要避免移工歸化為台灣人，如今，移民法修法後，已經明訂，藍領外籍勞工不能變移民，少了這樣疑慮，就服法就該修法 ==台灣國際勞工協會專員 吳靜如== 希望能夠廢除三年出國一日的規定 讓他們不用再被收取一次仲介費 那至於他們要回去探親呢 可以跟雇主協商什麼時候回去 那雇主在安排 調動人力上 也會比較方便 相關修法在通過一讀後，遲遲沒進展，近來，有部份雇主就出面，質疑修法後，外籍勞工就無法獎優汰劣，因此，移工團體這次站出來，除了隔空向雇主喊話，呼籲和勞方一同來辯論，也要求完全執政的民進黨，要儘速通過就服法修法的二、三讀，提升台灣對國際人權保障。 記者 蔡慧玲 吳嘉堡 台北報導