Old, new OFWs covered by Taiwan salary hike
Dicang said a total of 17,721 overseas Filipino workers bound for Taiwan will benefit from the new minimum wage hike
Daily TribuneDicang said a total of 17,721 overseas Filipino workers bound for Taiwan will benefit from the new minimum wage hike
The labor attaché at the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Kaohsiung, Taiwan yesterday clarified that even newly processed workers bound for the territory are entitled to the salary increase announced two days ago.
In an interview on DAILY TRIBUNE's digital show Usapang OFW on Tuesday, Labor Attaché David Des Dicang said a total of 17,721 overseas Filipino workers bound for Taiwan will benefit from the new minimum wage measure passed by Taiwan's Legislative Yuan that was announced last week.
The number is on top of the 123,768 OFWs presently employed as factory workers in Taiwan.
"These factory workers, even if they are still undergoing processing for their deployment until the end of the year, it's understood under the law that they will enjoy the new wage that will be implemented on 1 January 2024," Dicang said.
Before the wage hike, factory workers earned NT$26,400 (P44,800) per month.
"When we processed them, it was understood that these incoming workers would be covered across-the-board by the new wage of NT$27,470 (P48,223)," Dicang said.
He said there was no need to update the contract of the OFWs for the wage hike to effect, as the wage increase was retroactive and would be imposed on the first day of the first month of 2024.
There are more than 125,000 OFWs in Taiwan, more than 123,000 of whom are in the manufacturing sector, or factory workers.
This was the second time the Taiwan government raised the salaries of factory workers, Dicang said.
MECO, in an earlier statement, said the increase was implemented to help workers in the industrial sector cope with surging inflation and the higher cost of basic necessities.
Meanwhile, Dicang said the number of OFWs deployed to Taiwan is now close to the pre-pandemic levels.
"The deployment is stable and we hope that it will further increase, as there was a recent pronouncement from the Taiwan government that even in the hospitality services, they are considering hiring Filipinos," the labor official said.
"We are hoping to get a high percentage of workers in that industry. In the agricultural sector, we hope we can expand more, while for caretakers, we are aiming to get more training on the basic Mandarin language to get a bigger share of the market pie," he added.
Dicang said that Taiwan remained migrant-friendly. Most of the complaints the Manila Economic and Cultural Office was getting were of a personal nature and not employment-related, he noted.
"Manufacturing industry workers here can stay for only 14 years, while caretakers can stay only 12 years, although employers can extend the migrant's stay if they are satisfied with their service," he said.
"But there was a recent announcement from the government that they were contemplating to liberalize the tenure," he said.