The Ministry of Labor opens the 1955 Hotline for labor counseling and complaints to help migrant workers with communication and adaptation to the Taiwanese lifestyle. The hotline provides counseling and handles complaints 24 hours a day. It also offers an online interpretation service in Chinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai and Filipino to solve communication problems between employers and migrant workers.
1955 Hotline acts as a bridge of communication.
A hotline staff received a call from Shiao Ya, a Filipino worker. She said that she is a household caretaker and rarely goes out because she’s not familiar with the area and doesn’t know anyone. The employer asked her to buy a food for the patient and drew a map for her. However, she took an hour to find her way because she’s not familiar with the place. The employer assumed that she went out to play and left the patient alone. She didn’t know how to explain her problem to the employer. She recalled that the instructor of the regulation seminar at the airport when she arrived at Taiwan said that migrant workers can call the 1955 Hotline for online interpretation. She could use the service to resolve her inconvenience at work. Therefore, she called the hotline. When the hotline staff received her call, the staff communicated with her employer right away to resolve the misunderstanding. The employer said he will lead her the way and keep the hotline in mind. Therefore, he can call the hotline for the interpretation service if he needs help for communication.
An all-year-round service for migrant workers
The Workforce Development Agency stated that the 1955 Hotline is free, 24-hours and 365-days service. Migrant workers can call the hotline to acquire information on labor rights and daily life issues and ask for interpretation service. Statistics shows that over the past five years, the hotline staff received around 200 thousand calls a year and more than 4,500 of them asked for online interpretation. Hotline staffs speak Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai or Filipino to help migrant workers every day to resolve their problems at work in Taiwan. Therefore, migrant workers in Taiwan can rely on the interpretation service even the employers and agencies can also use this service.
1955 Hotline provides seamless communication for foreign workers
The online interpretation service of the 1955 Hotline immediately helps migrant workers and employers understand what they want to say. It reduces misunderstandings or disputes due to communication problem. Aside for work issues, migrant workers who seek a doctor, assessment of some document or in regards of daily life which needs a translator, can also call the 1955 Hotline for assistance. Hotline staff can offer real-time online interpretation service to help migrant workers with communication while living in Taiwan.