New Employment Contract requires OFWs to
Pay for own fare to Taiwan

Migrante Taiwan condemns the new employment contract for Taiwan that requires foreign workers to pay for their own airfare to the island. It also chides the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) for stating that they are not aware of this development when they are the ones who verify the authenticity of the contract.

The new employment contract amends Article 3.5 by stipulating that the employer would pay only the one way ticket of their employee from Taiwan when the worker completes the employment term. Previously it stipulated that the employer pays for the two way ticket of their employee to and from Taiwan.

In effect, this new contract incorporates and legalizes the long standing practice of employment contracts being inserted by an addendum which states among other things that the migrant workers pay for their own airfare to and from Taiwan. This practice which is equivalent to contract substitution and which is illegal under Philippine laws was and is still being tolerated both by MECO and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). The only difference now is that such addendums are not authenticated by the POEA but only by the placement agency.

This new development comes at a time when Taiwan’s Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) is considering approval of a new draft common employment contract requested by governments of sending countries for their nationals who wish to work in Taiwan. Ironically the amendment that they inserted in the contract is not favorable to their own workers but to Taiwanese employers.

Migrante Taiwan therefore calls for the rescinding of the provision in the new contract that requires foreign workers to pay for their own airfare to Taiwan. This is an added financial burden to OFWs who MECO admitted had to shell out up to P190,000 (NT$127,709) in placement fees; are paid below (for those working in homes) or only the minimum wage; are deducted monthly for income tax, medical and labor insurance, brokers fees in the guise of service fees, and board and lodging for those other than household service workers.

These legal deductions already account from 25% (household service workers) to 53% (other job categories) of the basic wages of the two preceding job categories. This does not include the initial placement fee paid for. Add to this are the rising costs of basic commodities both in Taiwan and in the Philippines which makes our demand not only just but morally correct as well.    

MIGRANTE INTERNATIONAL
Taiwan chapter