Legislation to Govern the New Three-WayRelationship is Best for AllCLA Deputy Minister Lai Chin-lin Discusses the Rise of Temping
interview by Vito Lee / tr. by Christopher J. Findler
July 2005
As agency-employed temporary work-ers now make up a significant portion of Taiwan's labor market, there is an urgent need to regulate this mode of employment.
The CLA has organized a variety of conferences over the past few years to discuss the issue of temp workers, but the majority of the meetings have been dialogs with academia, industry, and labor group representatives. Individual workers and average citizens have rarely had the opportunity to participate. The CLA, therefore, is organizing a citizens' conference on temporary workers to be held this August or September to encourage broader discussion of related issues. What concrete suggestions and preparatory work does the CLA currently need to do prior to the conference? Let's hear what Deputy Minister Lai has to say.
Q: What is the biggest impact temp workers have on the traditional labor market? What can we do to adequately protect workers?
A: Taiwan currently has approximately 150,000 temp workers. With them, the traditional labor/management relationship has become a three-way relationship in which rights and obligations have become increasingly complex. The organizations that "use" temp workers are not the same ones that "hire" them. Who, then, is responsible when, for example, an accident happens in the workplace or a labor-management dispute erupts? This remains a gray area.
One point needs clarification. Even though employers can hire various types of workers, the hiring of temp laborers will never become the norm. Hiring temp workers is a mechanism to help keep businesses competitive. At the end of the day, industry wants stability.
In any case, only proper treatment of workers, regardless of the employment relationship type, can guarantee competitive edge over the long run. The CLA naturally feels that legislation is the best means for protecting workers' rights and interests. When we look beyond Taiwan's borders, we see that European nations, which attach particular importance to the stability of the employment relationship, tend to make special laws to regulate the relationship between management and temp workers. The US, on the other hand, allows companies more leeway in who they hire and has not tried to regulate temp workers. We need to decide soon which method best suits Taiwan.
Q: The CLA has held many conferences to discuss legislation governing temporary workers. Does a huge gap still exist between the positions of management and labor?
A: Labor and management do not necessarily maintain opposing positions.
Some labor groups oppose the proposed legislation as they fear that industry would employ more temp workers which would negatively impact regular workers' right to work.
If the laws and regulations governing industries employing temp workers are inadequate, the rights and interests of workers could be adversely impacted to an even greater degree. What's more, there is a lack of regulations stipulating the qualifications needed to set up temporary labor agencies. The market is in chaos. Companies that stay within the law are being eliminated as a result of unfair practices. Establishing regulations would actually benefit regular workers, temp workers, industry, and temping agencies.
Q: From the CLA's viewpoint, what should the legislation's main thrust be?
A: First, clarifying the rights and obligations within the employee/employer relationship. Second, stable employment within the labor market. Third, protecting the rights and interests of temp workers.
Under the present legislative framework, there is no single law to which it would be appropriate to add all the provisions needed to cover temporary workers. The four or five existing laws that cover the issues concerned include the Labor Standards Act, the Labor Safety and Health Law, the Labor Insurance Law, and the Labor Union Law. But each of these has been subject to different interpretations or is incomplete in some way. Furthermore, in terms of the legislative process, it is more difficult to get four or five laws amended at once, and if you want to change some aspect of the legislation in the future, you may have to amend them all again. Hence, the CLA would prefer to see a single specific law to cover temp workers, to fill the gaps in the other legislation in one go. This would be a win-win situation for everybody.
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