The United States, Taiwan, Japan, and Slovakia Cohost First Labor-centered Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF) Workshop on “The Future of Work in a Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery”

On September 9 and 10, 2021, the Ministry of Labor (MOL), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association (JTEA), the United States Department of Labor (USDOL), and the Slovak Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei (SECO) co-hosted a virtual GCTF workshop entitled “The Future of Work in a Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery,” which focused on labor rights. During this workshop, Taiwan shared its expertise on the “future of work” with participating countries via video conferencing. This event marked the first time Taiwan’s MOL and the USDOL participated in a GCTF workshop.

The workshop was attended by the Minister of Labor Hsu Ming-Chun, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu, Deputy Undersecretary Thea Mei Lee of the United States Department of Labor, Chief Representative Hiroyasu Izumi of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, and Representative Martin Podstavek of the Slovak Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei attended the opening of the workshop and gave speeches. Minister Hsu Ming-Chun stated that due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic this year, working from home has become the new normal for work, which has tremendous impact on the traditional business model and the labor market. It also powered the development of a new economic model with digital platforms and demonstrated the importance of companies’ use of artificial intelligence for management. The Ministry of Labor supports the “Future of Work Centenary Initiative” launched by the International Labor Organization in 2019 by actively studying the impact and effects of new economic models and emerging technologies on traditional labor relations and the labor market. It aims to use the workshop to obtain valuable experience from the United States and Japan for use as reference for formulating labor policies.

The US Department of Labor is an important partner in Taiwan’s international labor affairs. Deputy Undersecretary Thea Mei Lee stated in her speech that Taiwan, Japan, and the United States share common labor values. The United States will continue to fight the COVID-19 epidemic and work to help workers return to work and protect the labor rights of women, people of color, and other vulnerable groups that have been severely affected by the epidemic. The United States also focuses on the discussions of the platform economy and worker protection for the future of work in the workshop, as well as the challenges and applications of digital technology development to occupational safety and health. These are important issues that the U.S. Department of Labor must face and it looks forward to learning from the experiences of Taiwan and Japan.

Officials from the U.S., Japan, Slovakia, and Taiwan were invited to this workshop, which included topics such as, “The Impact of Post-COVID-19 Platform Economy on the Labor Market and its Regulatory Response” and “The Impact of Emerging Technologies on Occupational Safety and Health and the Development of Applied Technologies in the Post-COVID-19 Era: Occupational Safety and Health-related Risk Management in Digital Work.” This workshop provided a platform for officials to discuss how to respond to the development of the platform economy, the effects on the labor market by the introduction of AI to the financial industry, and how to manage occupational safety and health in the digital workplace.

Approximately 200 government officials from 28 countries, including the U.S., Japan, Slovakia, as well as countries in the Americas, Latin America, and the Caribbean, attended the two-day workshop via video conferencing and actively participated in discussions. Sandra Oudkirk, Director of the AIT, stated in the closing ceremony that GCTF is an important platform for cooperation and dialog for governments, experts, and academics. The United States looks forward to continuous cooperation with Taiwan and Japan and continue to strengthen participation in national labor policies through dialog and sharing.

Director General Wang Ho-Cheng stated in the closing ceremony that the MOL uses international cooperation for brainstorming and learning how to meet the challenges of the future of work on labor rights together. The results of outstanding research in the United States and Japan can be used as benchmarks for Taiwan. In the future, we will continue to use the GCTF as a platform with events organized by Taiwan, the United States, and Japan for dialog and communication with countries around the world on labor policies and establish partnerships to work together on the future of work in the economic recovery of the post-pandemic world.

Sources: Ministry of Labor