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Editorial: CLA should do its job

The riot by 100 Thai workers working for Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation (KRTC) at their dormitories on Aug. 21 revealed some truths about the unfair and unjust foreign labor management practices at Hua Pan Manpower Corp. It also revealed a possible plot by commercial and political interests to exploit Thai workers.

The Thai laborers were protesting Hua Pan's poor manpower management practices, which infringed on their basic human rights. Hua Pan used military-style discipline and set inhumane rules to control the Thai workers. In restricting workers' rights to exercise their personal and economic freedom, Hua Pan has acted as a vampire in its exploitation of these foreign laborers, making Hua Pan the primary target of blame.

It seems that Hua Pan has not only mistreated these Thai workers, but also that the company may have imported these workers illegally, since it is a management company and a consultancy, not a brokerage. Considering who has stood to benefit, it may well have been the KRTC or a small group of its managers who initiated the whole thing. But the KRTC may not just be responsible for forgery of documents to protect Hua Pan. The more serious offense is that the KRTC imported a large number of foreign workers on the pretence that it was necessary for such a major project, but then transfered the use of these workers to contractors, thereby making huge profits.

What's more, if there is indeed an influential individual directing this issue from behind the scenes -- as Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊) has implied -- we must not allow that person to remain anonymous and continue to pull the strings. The political background behind this "influential individual" is that labor authorities adopted a less strict policy when dealing with the KRTC's application to import Thai workers. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) have demanded that police and investigators work fearlessly to find out who this influential figure is and bring him to justice.

Kaohsiung City's Bureau of Labor Affairs conducts regular inspections of the working environment in the area, but major oversights still occur. Labor authorities claim that foreign workers' channels for complaints are "completely open," but the fact is that Thai workers on many occassions have filed complaints based on clear evidence of illegal practices, and the Kaohsiung Bureau of Labor Affairs has failed to respond. This is an oversight by the local labor authorities that the CLA should look into.

Why has this hell for foreign workers been allowed to continue for so long? Is it because the channel for filing complaints is overwhelmed, and complaints aren't reaching the local labor authorities? Is it because those managing the workers have neglected to look into and handle the complaints? Perhaps it is because the labor authorities dare not handle the complaints due to political pressure.

The inhumane management system of Hua Pan Co may not be the only case of its type, so in order to guarantee that foreign workers will not continue to be mistreated, the CLA should carry out comprehensive inspections of the working environment and labor conditions at every company hiring foreign workers.

Taiwan has been importing foreign labor for more than a decade now, but the problem with exploitative brokers has never been solved.

Although the CLA claims to work hard to create a transparent and orderly brokerage system, the effort is still insufficient. The CLA should review the brokerage system and fee standards in order to stop brokers from finding ingenious ways of exploiting the hard-earned income of foreign workers, while at the same time increasing the costs for Taiwanese employers.
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