In my recent article ("Migrant workers at the mercy of the government," Dec. 10, page 9) I described the plight of Vietnamese migrant workers, noting that their primary burden was the placement fees paid to the brokers who arranged their employment in Taiwan.
After a critical analysis, it can be ascertained that virtually all of the insecurities associated with taking employment in Taiwan ultimately arise from this single issue. As recently as last October, Taiwan's Council of Labor Affairs (CLA, 勞委會) hosted a meeting in which representatives of various Catholic migrant worker NGOs were invited to explain their first-hand analytical experience of the problems and conditions faced by more than 300,000 migrant workers in Taiwan. There was overall agreement that brokers' placement fees were a primary and inhumane cause of the acute psychological distress experienced by numerous migrant workers employed in Taiwan's manual labor job sector. Such fees have been increased from approximately NT$50,000 in 1997 up to the current NT$100,000 to NT$120,000, which is the equivalent of six to eight months salary.
The overseas contract workers industry, like any large international industry, has the potential to develop monopolistic practices. Phrases like "cornering the market" or "controlling the means of production" indicate the practices of past leaders of the industry; it is as if they form an exclusive members-only club. When such a closed club is successfully established it becomes easier for the members to create and promote price fixing.
A recent example of this might well be the recently signed agreement between the Taipei Association of Manpower Agencies (TAMA), and the Philipino Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan Inc (PILMAT), which was witnessed by the representative of the Manila-based Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrant and Itinerant People (ECMI) -- a very important section of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines. Obviously, ECMI's acceptance of this agreement is in pursuit of a strategy of compromise for the sake of transparency to end corruption in the arena of placement fee charges. Theoretically this would thereby give a maximum amount of protection to migrant workers, but is this the proper "cure-all" remedy? As they themselves noted, "We are forced to accept it not because we agree [to it] ... we are taking risks in the Philippines [by allowing this]."
What they have signed up to standardizes the various fees that a Filipino worker must pay to secure employment in Taiwan at 150,000 pesos (NT$100,000). Of this amount, approximately 42,200 pesos is paid in the Philippines, which covers the placement fee paid to the Filipino brokerage company, the visa fee, one-way air fare, medical check-ups and various other governmental fees. The main question of this article, however, is to inquire as to the decision to charge Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) approximately 108,000 pesos (NT$72,000) once in Taiwan. We see first a "registration and introductory" fee of 45,000 pesos (NT$30,000). Next are "traveling expenses" at 9,000 pesos (NT$6,000). Lastly, there is a 54,000 pesos (NT$36,000) "on-site handling" fee which includes the price of the return ticket to Manila, medical examinations and the Alien Residence Certificate.
The track records of Filipino and Taiwanese brokers easily give rise to worries of manipulative intentions. This is further supported by the fact that well-placed Catholic and secular migrant worker NGOs are doubtful about the agreement.
In an unrelated conversation, an important Manila-based migrant labor specialist noted that the UN's International Labor Organization (ILO), strongly opposes the scheme of charging international migrant workers placement fees involved to secure a position in a globalized labor market such as Taiwan's. The ILO's rationale is that the employer, in seeking cheap labor, should be the party to shoulder the costs of recruitment.
The current dynamics of the international labor market are such, however, that the Filipino migrant worker, who is selling her/his labor, must first buy a position in Taiwan's labor market from the Filipino/Taiwanese labor broker complex. Could it not be argued that the consumer, the perspective Filipino buyer of employment opportunities in Taiwan, is confronted with an almost monolithic "take it or leave it" closed club of sellers of employment opportunities in Taiwan; a club consisting of both Filipino and Taiwanese labor brokerages, selling their allotted labor quotas at a controlled price?
Remember that it is an economic and historical truism that, as soon as the producers of a given product agree to fix the price of the product, the buyers are bound to be overcharged.
In this case the buyers are individuals who represent families that unfortunately have little or no economic or political representation in their home country. Further, it appears that the signing of the memorandum regarding this standardization of placement fees for OFWs was done without open policy debate and negotiation with the other relevant parties: representatives of the OFWs themselves, the key migrant worker NGOs who are long-term dedicated advocates for the welfare of all migrant workers, and the CLA or MECO, the representative body of the Philippines government in Taiwan. Metaphorically, it seems that the three signatories of this agreement gave a party and nobody came.
Bernadette Chen is a member of the Sisters of Social Service and is currently a PhD candidate at Cambridge University.
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