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The Theory and Practice of the Management of the Migrant Workers In Taiwan
By Lorna Kung and Fang-Ping Wang, Solidarity Front of Women Workers, Taiwan

Prologue

The government in Taiwan was very conservative in matters of the opening of foreign labor force. At an initial stage, only major industries were allowed to hire migrant workers with a special permit and a limited quota. Not only that, they also had to follow the four guidelines: domestic workers' rights must be guaranteed and foreign labor is merely supplementary, prevent migrant workers' from becoming illegal immigrants, prevent them from creating social disorder, they are not allowed to get in the way of the industry upgrading. It showed how careful the government was when it came to allowing migrant workers to work in Taiwan.

Faced with increasing competitiveness and pressure from various industries, in 1991, the government allowed "six industries and fifteen professions" to apply for foreign labor and 15,000 migrant workers came to Taiwan. In 1992, the Council of Labor Affairs changed the application item from "profession' to "line of business" thus relaxing the rules regarding the application for foreign labor. In the past decade, the policy regarding foreign labor helped many industries go through crisis for a short period of time, but it delayed the industry upgrading. Recently, the increasing number of migrant workers and unemployment rate have raised the concern of local workers about the government's foreign labor policy.

The "provisional" foreign labor policy has slowed down the government's effort to make rules regulating foreign labor input and management policies. The overbearing manner of foreign labor management such as forcing migrant workers to save money, holding migrant workers' passports, high brokerage fee, and high professional risk has aroused criticism from the international community. The economy rights of migrant workers in Taiwan have not been protected due to the lack of knowledge of complaint procedures and legal awareness, not to mention the rights to participate in the society, politics and to organize a group due to a conflict of interests.

The number of migrant workers in Taiwan broke a record of 330,000 people in July. The new government has been in office for more than a year now and has made every effort to improve the policy regarding foreign migrants' regulations such as reducing the quota by 15,000 people every year, protecting migrant workers' human rights and promoting direct employment system instead of going through an agency. This deserves credit, but it remains to be seen whether it is going to serve its purpose. For example, can direct employment system solve the problem of a high brokerage fee? Can the abolishment of compulsory savings on the part of migrant workers reduce the employers' inappropriate control? Can the abolishment of pregnancy test and the provision of shelter by NGO's for troubled migrant workers be helpful to the improvement of migrant workers' human rights? In addition, the following are questions the government needs to ponder upon: is it going to raise domestic workers' employment rate by disallowing migrant workers to be involved in major constructions? What is the policy regarding the reduction of foreign labor force in the industrial sector? Can the local labor force catch up with the training? What kind of need in the society does the increase in migrant workers in the service industry reflect?


Restrictions of Migrant Workers on Social Activities

The number of migrant workers has reached 330,000 people, making up 2.5 % of the labor force in Taiwan and 1.6 % of the entire population in Taiwan. These people have formed a distinctive group of their own. Migrant workers' lifestyle compared to that of the people of Taiwan is much simpler. As they come from different backgrounds and speak different languages, the government still needs to work on some areas such as entertainment, media and road signs to make their life more pleasant. Most migrant workers often gather and hang out at Taipei Main Station, Taoyuan Station and some other meeting points since they cannot "walk freely" with the signs they cannot understand. The employers also disregard the fact that they have sexual needs. Furthermore, migrant workers from different countries have different cultural backgrounds and those in the management level should understand this in order to develop an effective communication pattern so that they can win respect from the workers.


Unsound Rules Regulating Foreign Labor

Though migrant workers, according to the law, should enjoy the same rights as local workers, in reality, they do not. There are laws regulating the basic rights of workers, but one-third of the foreign domestic helpers and care providers are excluded. With these loopholes and with the "provisional" foreign labor policy, it is hard to come up with sound management policies. The management of foreign labor varies from one industry or employer to another, easily causing disagreement between the employer and migrant workers and the violation of human rights on the part of the employers. Recent dispute cases such as deporting the employees and sexual assault case involving an Indonesian domestic helper sexually molested by her employer all show that they fall victim to the labor policy in Taiwan which disregards the fact that they might be the ones hurt or maltreated. I don't believe this is an instant case, but it is only a tip of the iceberg. When working closely with the migrant workers, we discovered that many true facts have been concealed because of the different identity of the migrant workers. These stories even tell us that we should take a more cautious approach when planning foreign labor management policies.


Problems arising from the planning of management policy

The foreign labor management policy in Taiwan is rigid and overbearing since the government is worried that migrant workers might turn into illegal immigrants. The government in Taiwan is very strict with migrant workers' duration of stay and is concerned about runaway problems. When a migrant worker runs away, the original quota for the employer will be readjusted until the runaway worker is arrested. The employer has his own management policy in line with his own interests resulting in a situation which migrant workers who are already at a disadvantage become the victims. The employer then uses methods, in violation of human rights, to regulate the migrant workers such as forcing them to save their money, holding their passports and resident cards, and deporting them without prior notification. Even a trivial problem such as the termination of a contract between a worker and his/her employer needs regulations that guide the procedures to be followed by both sides so that the rights of either party will not be violated. Another possible scenario would be they press charges against each other with each party having its own side of argument without the support of law.


Focus the New Government Needs on the Improvement of Migrant Workers' Human Rights

The new government has been concerned with the migrant workers' human rights and has made some reforms which include law that stipulates that the employer must not hold in possession of a migrant worker's personal property such as a passport and an ID, the employer must not deport employees without solid grounds and must not deport female workers who become pregnant before the contract expires. The government's respect for migrant workers' human rights deserves credit, but without sound regulations, I am worried that the effort will be in vain. Some problems still exist such as employers' problems, female workers' pregnancy and new contract that employers force employees to sign. If the problem of human rights still exists, how can employers be expected to comply with the regulations? It has been 11 year since the arrival of the first group of migrant workers in 1989 when the government made rules regulating employers, employment agencies, and industries. With the changing of time and the concept of global village, it is high time that the government took an action by amending these obsolete regulations. Migrant workers' "frontline" supervisors should even try to find the best solution to a problem under existing regulations.

It remains to be seen whether the Economic Development Advisory Conference is going to serve its function by solving the current economic problem in Taiwan. The recent discussion on the abolishment of the minimum labor wage shows that capitalists suppress labor workers by using the excuse of the economic recession. The current economic turmoil is not only the problem of labor cost. Lowering the labor cost does not solve the economic problem and does not help with the industry upgrading especially when faced with lower labor cost from Southeast Asian countries and mainland China.

Is the abolishment of the minimum wage helpful to the business competitiveness in Taiwan? In fact, 9% of the labor workers rely on the protection of basic wages. In addition, the number of migrant workers does not even constitute 5% of the labor force in Taiwan. Besides, only the employers who hire migrant workers benefit from the abolishment of the minimum labor wage. Relying on intensive labor, low cost production and not on the reform of assembly line will not increase the competitiveness of industries in Taiwan. Lower cost of migrant workers only adds a problem to the local labor market. Earlier, the Council of Labor Affairs came up with a plan to include room and board into the wage, and this time, the abolishment of minimum labor wage. It is the same difference.