The Council of Labor Affairs yesterday vowed to investigate the plight of foreign fishermen in Taiwan, after 20 demonstrated in front of the council and accused Taiwanese employers and employment brokers of exploiting them.
"We will investigate the employment of foreign fishermen in Taiwan, including checking our computer systems for whether Taiwanese employers provide their foreign fishermen with labor and health insurance," said Liao Wei-jen (
Some 20 fishermen accompanied by the Hope Workers' Center, a Taoyuan-based Catholic organization that assists immigrant workers, and the Taiwan Association for the Victims of Occupational Accidents and Diseases, protested in front of the council yesterday morning.
Santos Lin (
The fishermen allege that the employers pay net wages -- after deductions -- of just NT$15,840 per month.
But the wages are often first remitted to the brokers, who make further deductions of their own.
Regulations stipulate that employers must pay their fishermen NT$15,840 a month plus NT$1,900 for the Employment Security Fund, about NT$216 for health insurance and a variable amount for labor insurance.
Many fishermen only receive some NT$7,000 a month.
Pran Vin Donj, a 26 year-old Vietnamese fisherman who worked for a Taiwanese employer from June to November, yesterday protested in front of the council, saying that his family only received about NT$6,000 a month during his five months as a fisherman in Taiwan.
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