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Time for a policy that is fair to all workers

TAIWAN'S FOREIGN LABOR policy is such that foreign workers arriving in Taiwan on two-year contracts must pay between US$1,500 and US$3,000 to a local broker before leaving for Taiwan, and another NT$42,000 to a Taiwanese broker after arriving here.

After paying plane tickets, health check fees, labor and health insurance fees, board and lodging and income taxes, workers make only about NT$6,000 per month if they do not get paychecks for any overtime they do.

The so-called "placement fee" for Taiwanese brokers is, in other words, the equivalent of seven months' salary and the fee for overseas brokers is equivalent to eight to 16 months' salary.

Are such high fees reasonable?

Singapore's GDP per capita is about twice Taiwan's. There are approximately 700,000 foreign workers there and, as in Taiwan, blue-collar foreign workers make only around NT$6,000 per month.

For foreign laborers on two-year contracts, employers need to pay domestic brokers NT$6,000, which is equivalent to one month's salary.

Malaysia's GDP per capita is less than one-third Taiwan's. There are 2 million foreign workers there, making an average of NT$5,000 to NT$6,000 per month. Indonesian, Lao, Vietnamese and Nepalese workers who want to work in Singapore or Malaysia must pay local brokers the equivalent of three months' salary.

What this means is that the monthly wage of NT$6,000 is the going market rate internationally.

The Taiwanese government has set a minimum wage of NT$17,280 for foreign workers before various fees and costs are deducted. On the surface, the policy therefore does not seem discriminatory. But this figure has nothing to do with reality.

Most of a foreign worker's salary disappears to overseas and local brokers, allowing brokers to make extravagant profits.

These labor policies are unfair in many ways, also minimizing the profits of Taiwanese employers. The exploitation of foreign workers is also damaging to public welfare and is hardly conducive to maintaining competitive industries. In the end, these industries move overseas and Taiwan's economy pays a price.

Nor do these policies translate into good human rights practices. A US human rights report last year cited four categorical problems in Taiwan directly related to or affecting the nation's human rights: corruption among officials, gender-based discrimination, human trafficking and abuse of foreign workers.

The third and fourth issues are directly related to the nation's labor policies. Foreign workers get into debt to pay their placement fees. Then, upon arriving in Taiwan, they live in fear of being sent home before their contracts end and being unable to pay off those debts. As a result, foreign workers are usually too scared to report an employee who abuses them physically, discriminates against them or otherwise mistreats them. As a result, desperate foreign workers run from their jobs. They end up in dire situations and have a high suicide rate.

Taiwan's record in this respect is shameful.

Singapore and Malaysia both respect the market mechanism. They are not cited for these labor rights violations in the US report, which even praised Singapore for effective channels for complaints by employees.

The nation's foreign labor policy has sacrificed public interest, destroyed the competitiveness of its industries and damaged the nation's human rights image.

Unfortunately, Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) aren't brave enough to pledge to reform these unfair labor policies.

This is truly a tragedy.

William Kao is chairman of the Victims of Investment in China Association.

TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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