At the same time, the CLA’s position that it is “technically infeasible” for household service workers to be covered by the Labor Standards Law is discriminatory. These kinds of workers had been covered by such a law before, and those caretakers working in nursing homes and hospitals have already been covered, since five years ago. There is no difference between the work of a caretaker in a nursing home and one in a private one. The only difference is the workplace.

According to Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to just and favorable conditions of work. The right to a day off is specified more precisely in Article 7, letter D of The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the United Nations which guarantees:

Rest, leisure and reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay, as well as remuneration for public holidays.

The United Nations further adds that such rights are not granted or given to workers by governments or employers — they are basic universal human rights that we all are entitled to by virtue of our humanity.

That is why the pronouncement made by Presidential Office Secretary-General Yeh Chu-lan that Taiwan, based on its own struggle for democracy, is working to promote and protect human rights in other countries worldwide rings hollow. This was made on Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day.

The official position by the CLA as announced by Deputy Chairwoman Tsao Ai-lan is just to urge local employers to give their foreign employees some days off. This smacks of making the migrant workers at the mercy of their “employers,” which is a slave-like condition.

And it is not true what Deputy Chairwoman Tsao Ai-lan stated that the workload of a caretaker is light, in that they just take care of those who are incapable of moving. Has the CLA official tried to lift a person bigger and heavier than himself as most caretakers do given that most of them are women?

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