President Chen Shui-bian's (
Ironically, the crisis management of our new government seems rather old-fashioned. First, Ambassador Tsai repeatedly denied his earlier statements. Then he blamed the Nicaraguan media for being unprofessional. Lastly, the Taiwan embassy even paid the unions to downplay the dispute. Taiwan's Nien Hsing Textile denied any labor-capital dispute, alleging that the protest was instigated by local US competitors.
In fact, Chentex company caught international attention earlier by firing 90 workers trying to form a labor union. Almost two thousand workers -- nearly the entire staff of the company -- went on strike afterward.
When I visited the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO, 美國勞工聯盟) and Sandra Polaski, chief of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Affairs of the US Department of State (美國國務院) in Washington in July, they both used Chentex to demonstrate Taiwan business' poor human right record overseas. The data AFL-CIO faxed me showed that the US government knew everything Nien Hsing was doing, including who its American clients were. Obviously, Taiwanese companies' labor rights violations have come to the center of the spotlight and cannot be resolved with money. Surprisingly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), which was aware of the dispute, did nothing to stop Taiwanese companies' wrongdoing or ask them to respect the workers' rights. MOFA was certainly guilty of oversight in arranging to have the president of Nien Hsing visit Nicaragua with President Chen.
The US Department of State believes that Taiwan's most egregious labor violations are inflicted against foreign workers. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO, 國際勞動組織), Taiwan is guilty of the following conduct against foreign workers:
(1) Taiwan's labor brokers often overcharge workers brokerage fees;
(2) Female workers are forced to take pregnancy tests, severely violating their human rights; and
(3) To prevent escape, Taiwan companies force their workers to make monetary deposits in violation of ILO conventions.
Nevertheless, some business heads and legislators in Taiwan are now in favor of canceling the minimum wage for foreign labors, which will absolutely cause more trouble for Taiwan.
The executives of two multi-national manufacturers have said that Taiwan's terrible labor right conditions harm the reputation of our business partners. Both companies now plan to cancel their orders from Taiwan if the situation is not immediately improved.
The Council of Labor Affairs (勞委會) is not alone in needing to address the problem -- other government units need to address the problem, too. Taiwan earned a bad name by selling rhinoceros horns and abusing stray dogs. While we work hard to break through the difficulties in diplomacy, the exploitation of foreign laborers stands in the way of progress. Taiwan's forthcoming national human rights commission (
Jason Chin-hsin Liu is a professor at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology and an adviser to the Council of Labor Affairs.
Translated by Eddy Chang.
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