The book Underground Lives — Stories Untold for Migrant Workers in Taiwan (移工築起的地下社會) provides an intriguing approach for readers who want to know more about migrant workers as people living next door rather than merely laborers from overseas.
The author Chien Yung-ta (簡永達) lived in a rented room in the First Square building in Taichung — a place now famous for migrant workers’ gatherings — for his first migrant worker story in 2016, and Chien said he was amazed by their vitality.
“Here they have their own eateries, phone shops, bars with bands started by themselves, barbershops and even their own gay bars,” Chien said.
Photo: Taipei Times
However, the sense of vitality was supplanted as Chien reported on their occupational injuries.
Every two hours a migrant worker in Taiwan suffers an occupational injury, and the chance that such injuries would leave them disabled or dead is two or three times higher than for Taiwanese workers, Chien said.
“The longer I reported on those stories [about occupational injuries] the more depressed I got. I felt that I could easily see their fate, that they could be easily pulled into a downward spiral, unable to receive due compensation, or worse, being taken home in an urn,” he said.
A chapter in the book shows how migrant workers take the initiative to improve their circumstances, such as by participating in protests, organizing unions, starting their own businesses, or spending quality time with friends in joining coastal cleanup groups and participating in beauty pageants.
Stories in the book also show how migrant workers support one another in their community. The mutual support could be financial, such as a Vietnamese migrant workers’ collective fund through contributions from part of their monthly wage, which acts as insurance for anyone who might one day need the money, such as to have postmortem ceremonial rituals performed in the worst case scenario, or the Indonesian migrant community making donations to take care of migrant workers’ newborns, who Chien calls “transparent babies.”
Migrant workers’ mutual support is also emotional.
“A group of people invited me to their rented accomodation just to spend time together, to cook, and share meals. It is like they are trying to relive the ambiance of family life, which neither the employer’s place nor the dormitory offers,” Chien said.
Chien suggests this underground society is built in response to the rigidity of the legal and administrative institutions in Taiwan.
Taiwan’s migrant worker policy regime “has maintained its labor-commodifying nature” decades after it was first introduced, recognizing migrant workers’ “economic value,” but restricting their “social rights,” Chien wrote.
When the Taiwanese government first opened to migrant workers more than 30 years ago, they were categorized as “guest workers,” or those who were destined to return home after just a short stay, Chien said.
The idea came from West Germany following World War II when it was short of workers and had to bring in short-term foreign workers, Chien said, adding that the government failed to keep track of the development of Germany’s main group of foreign workers — Turkish workers — who are now integrated into the country and are the largest minority community. Or it did, but saw Germany as an example of social problems arising from immigration.
In 1992, the Taiwanese government followed Singapore’s example in adopting a rotation system in which the number of migrant workers and their duration of stay would be strictly monitored and controlled, Chien said.
“Since the beginning, the government has ‘prevented migrant workers from becoming immigrants’ as their sole priority in policy thinking,” he said.
”This was accompanied by various measures to prevent them from entering into areas associated with the daily life of Taiwanese, so their management has always been rigid,” he said.
However, the line separating “migrant workers” from “immigrants” would be increasingly blurred in the future, he said.
The book also details how neighboring countries are competing to attract foreign workers with better terms as international clients demand “responsible business” practices and “corporate sustainability due diligence.”
In 2022, Taiwan rolled out a program to retain “intermediate skilled migrant workers” who after meeting certain conditions would be able to apply for permanent residency. However, Chien said the regulations are vague on who can apply and how the conditions can be met.
“I think now is the time for Taiwanese to engage in a necessary discussion on this issue,” he said. “If they inevitably are to be immigrants in this country, we need to engage in much learning and preparation.”
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