Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) chief Wang Ju-hsuan reiterated Monday that she will step down if wages for non-Taiwanese workers are removed from the protection of Taiwan's minimum wage.

"Premier" Wu Den-yih floated the concept earlier in the month suggesting that the protection should be removed within certain economic and trade zones to allow lower wages for non-Taiwanese workers. The idea was that the move would attract foreign investment.Ruling Kuomintang Legislator Luo Shu-lei then brought forward a proposal to amend the Labor Standards Act to abolish the regulation that applies Taiwan's minimum wage of NT$17,280 to migrant workers.

The proposed amendments have sparked outrage and protests among labor and immigrant advocacy groups, some of which rallied in front of the Legislative Yuan Monday, demanding that Wang resign over the matter.

Pressured by opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Sue-ying, Wang said at a legislative session that she remained consistent in her opposition to removing the protection from foreign workers and that she made it clear long before she assumed her post that she would resign if she failed to uphold the bottom line.

No other economies that have adopted a minimum wage policy have waived the minimum wage requirement for migrant workers, Wang argued.

According to Wang, there is no legal minimum wage in Singapore or Hong Kong, where salaries are usually negotiated between employers and employees based on what the job entails. Despite this, the wages paid to migrant workers in the two economies are similar to those in Taiwan, she added.

Wang said one employer told her that a US human rights report ranking Taiwan as a place unfriendly to alien workers once caused him to lose an order worth NT$50 million ($1.59 million). If the link is removed, the situation will become even worse and create an even greater barrier to negotiating free trade agreements with other economies, she predicted.

Wang said she will fight until the very end to make sure the policy remains unchanged.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 04/27/2010 page4)