Cross-party lawmakers question eased migrant domestic worker rulesStaff Writer, with CNALawmakers across party lines yesterday questioned the government’s easing of rules on hiring migrant domestic workers, warning that the policy could weaken professional childcare standards and shift the care burdens from the state onto families and workers. Since the Cabinet in mid-March approved a plan to ease rules on hiring migrant domestic workers, allowing households with at least one child under 12 to apply, the policy has sparked both support and concern ahead of its scheduled April 13 implementation. At a legislative hearing, Chiu Cheng-chun (邱鎮軍) of the main opposition Kuomintang described the government’s move as “abandoning the bottom line of professional care” for children in an estimated 1.44 million eligible households. With public childcare services falling short and local nannies too expensive, he argued that by turning to migrant domestic workers, the government no longer seemed concerned about the quality of childcare. The security fee is a government levy used to support labor welfare and the management of migrant workers.
