One week ago today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labor were quick to defend the government’s commitment to human rights and ensuring that the rights of workers, including migrants, are protected.
The two ministries issued statements a day after the US Department of State published its latest human rights report, which voiced concerns about working conditions for migrant workers in this nation, saying that they were vulnerable to exploitation.
The same labor laws govern domestic and foreign workers, so there should be no discrepancy in the way they are treated, the labor ministry said, adding that it had put in place a comprehensive system to protect foreign workers’ rights.
However, the two ministries have been conspicuously silent this week in the wake of a protest on Monday by 100 Vietnamese workers of St Shine Optical Co in New Taipei City’s Shijhih District (汐止) who are unhappy with their abysmal dormitory accommodations, where 362 people are housed in a space designed for 100, as well as salary deductions.
New Taipei City Department of Labor Affairs officials on Tuesday inspected the dormitory and confirmed that 334 Vietnamese and 28 Indonesians had been assigned space smaller than the legally required 3.2m2 per person.
The company has been charging the workers a boarding fee of NT$3,940 (US$133) per month, not the NT$2,500 listed in their contracts, plus NT$400 per month for air conditioning, the officials said.
Labor department officials said St Shine and its labor broker had been told to address the complaints, and the department would arrange a meeting to discuss boarding fees, dormitory conditions and living arrangements.
If improvements are not made within a specified timeframe, St Shine could be fined between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000 or even lose its permit to employ foreign workers.
St Shine reported cumulative revenue of NT$995.86 million for January and February, up 9.19 percent from a year earlier, and a net profit of NT$396 million for the fourth quarter of last year.
It has also invested more than NT$900 million for 20 new production lines that are expected to be operational next quarter — if it can recruit the necessary staff — to cope with increasing demand from its clients in Japan and the US.
Fines of NT$60,000 or up to NT$300,000 would not even be a slap on the wrist for the company, a reminder that while many of the nation’s laws and regulations might look good on paper, they fall far short in terms of enforcement and penalties for contraventions.
While the threat of losing its right to employ foreign workers could throw a spanner into the firm’s plan to ramp up production, when was the last time such action was actually taken against a major employer in Taiwan?
In addition, while New Taipei City labor officials inspected the Shijhih dormitory, they said nothing about conducting a similar check of the company’s facilities for employees at its Wudu (五堵) plant, or talking to their counterparts in Keelung about checking the firm’s setup in that city.
Such a reactive stance, as opposed to a proactive one, is another reason why workers see this nation’s labor laws as designed to favor employers, not them.
Photographs of rows of curtained-enclosed bunk beds and narrow walkways in the Shijhih dorm makes it clear that air-conditioning and fans would be needed year-round just to keep air flowing around the floors, so basically the company is charging its workers to be able to breathe.
The May 1 Action Alliance this week announced that its annual Workers’ Day march on Tuesday would focus on an appeal for a referendum on workers’ rights, changes to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) and wage increases.
Let us hope that the trade unions involved in the march also speak out for their migrant colleagues, since our lawmakers and bureaucrats appear unable to do so.
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