Covid in Taiwan: electronics industry locks up migrant workers
In Taiwan, since the epidemic resumed a month ago, several companies in the famous electronics sector have banned their migrant workers from leaving.
REUTERS / Tyrone Siu
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
In Taiwan, this archipelago of 24 million inhabitants located off the coast of China, since the resumption of the epidemic a month ago, several companies in the famous electronics sector have banned their migrant workers from leaving.
Decisions deemed illegal by NGOs.
Publicity
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With our correspondent in Taipei,
Adrien Simorre
It's been a month since Danielle went out freely.
This Filipino worker works in the semiconductor industry, of which Taiwan is the world leader.
She is now confined in a dormitory where more than 500 workers are crammed.
“
We can't go out on our weekly day off,
” she says, “
and in the evening they watch how long it takes to get home from the factory.
This is unfair, because the Taiwanese workers are not affected by these measures!
"
Threat of dismissal
Taiwan does not impose any confinement on its population.
But the discovery of cases of Covid-19 among the 400,000 migrant workers in the industrial sector has scared companies.
Several have chosen to lock up their foreign workers, sometimes under threat of dismissal.
"
The majority of migrant workers are now prohibited from leaving,"
explains Lennon Ying Dah Wong, of the Serve the people association.
These decisions have no legal basis, it is pure discrimination.
I fear that these bans will continue, even as the epidemic situation improves.
"
The government has not made any firm condemnations to these bans, just pledging to inspect the dormitories to verify their compliance.
A decision demanded by NGOs since the start of the pandemic.
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To read also:
Taiwan: the “zero Covid” strategy has reached its limits
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Taiwan
Coronavirus
International Migration