Taipei, Jan. 19 (CNA) A Ministry of Labor official is encouraging migrant workers to sign up for an annual model foreign worker competition to win cash prizes and meet with Taiwan's president.
Migrant workers can enter the "2022 National Model Foreign Worker competition" by asking their employers or brokers to apply for them at their local government labor department, said Huang Wei-cheng (黃偉誠), a section chief at the Workforce Development Agency's Cross-Border Workforce Management Division under the MOL.
Each department will then provide a shortlist to the MOL, from which it will select five winners, Huang said.
Employers should ask their local government labor offices about the application deadlines soon because the MOL has asked those departments to provide them with their shortlists by the end of January.
The lists will be evaluated by a group of experts who will review the workers' skills, work achievements, and recommendations and then select three winners from industrial sectors, such as manufacturing, and two from social welfare sectors, such as caregiving, Huang said.
The winners will each get a cash prize of around NT$10,000 (US$361.72), receive an award at a presentation ceremony, and meet President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Huang said. The winners will be notified before Labor Day on May 1.
The competition was held for the first time last year, and the MOL received shortlists totaling 45 applicants from local governments around Taiwan, Huang said.
"We organized the competition as a way to thank migrant workers for their hard work because they look after our patients and contribute to our economic advancement," Huang said.
One of the winners last year was Filipina technician Manlangit Mary Grace Rosales from Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation in Hsinchu, according to MOL records.
Rosales was said to be an "excellent employee" of her company because of her ability to complete her tasks and help others, while also proposing ways to improve the company's operations, according to MOL records.
Another winner was Indonesian home nursing assistant Sukadi Sulastri of Taipei, who was said to always pay close attention to the condition of the person she was looking after, according to the MOL.
She can communicate in fluent Chinese and English and has also completed a bachelor's degree at National Open University of Taiwan while working in the country, according to MOL records.
Migrant workers have become an integral part of Taiwanese society, with 675,672 working in Taiwan at the end of November, according to MOL statistics.
