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Dear Friends,

Last December, the APMM together with the Hsinchu Confederation of Trade Unions and its local union were able to successfully assist 19 Filipino factory workers at Tai Fong Circuit Industry (TCI) against their broker for overcharging. As a consequence of this, the broker pressured their company not to rehire the 19 for another one year contract. The first batch of workers left Taiwan on May 20 while the second would leave tomorrow. The rest would leave on different days of June this year.

Because of this, local groups led by the Labor Rights Association (LRA) and Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCTU) initiated a picket dialogue with Taiwan's Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) this morning. Among them were six Filipino migrant workers from TCI. Essentially, the CLA washed its hands off the case and issued the following opinions:

  1. This is a very difficult case and CLA has no responsibility over it since it did not go through the correct legal channels even if in CLA's position this is clearly retaliatory in nature.
  2. There is no evidence to indicate that the broker pressured the management of TCI not to rehire the migrants.
  3. It is the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), the de facto Philippine Embassy in Taiwan that handled the case and it should have transferred the case to the Hsinchu County Labor Office.
  4. While it is true that Asia Human Resources (the broker) overcharged the workers, it eventually gave it back to the migrants. It is also difficult to punish the broker since it might be harder to persuade them to return the money of migrants for overcharging in the future. CLA then said, that it was willing to find out if the broker overcharged other migrant workers.
  5. They (the protesters) should talk with the Hsinchu County Labor Office and with the management of TCI regarding this matter.

At the moment, such a dialogue is being held. The protest action was widely covered in the press and we will send you any article that comes out of the newspaper regarding this.

We are also awaiting MECO's position on the matter given CLA's position right now. We issued our own statement for today's activity which is found below.

Warm Regards,

APMM Advocacy and Campaigns Program

Restore the 19 TCI Migrant Workers, Blacklist the Asia Human Resources!

We deplore the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) for being helpless in preventing the repatriation of 19 Filipino workers from Tai Fong Circuit Industry (TCI) and for not lifting a finger against their broker. The 19 migrants had earlier won a case against the broker named Asia Human Resources Mgt. and Consultancy Co. Ltd., for overcharging. In retaliation for the migrants’ victory, their broker pressured their company not to rehire them for another year.

The first batch of workers already left Taiwan on May 20 and the second and succeeding batches would be leaving on June 3 and subsequent dates in the same month. MECO did not even formally answer APMM’s letter seeking assistance for the Filipino nationals. Instead in an informal telephone conversation, a MECO official told APMM’s Taiwan coordinator on May 20 that what the company did was legal and they cannot blacklist the broker because this can only be done by the CLA.

Besides overcharging the 19 migrants from TCI at NT$6,000 a month for twenty months, Asia Human Resources was also involved in overcharging two Filipina caretakers in Hsinchu City and Jubei respectively. They were made to pay NT$9,000 a month for ten months and these only stopped in April this year when APMM sought MECO’s intercession on the victims’ behalf in March. The TCI workers on the other hand, were not further deducted illegally and the excess collection made by the broker returned December last year because again of the same process made by APMM and because the local union at TCI assisted the migrant workers.

Despite these, MECO never blacklisted Asia Human Resources and investigate the situation of all Filipino workers who were recruited under it and act accordingly. Its position that only the CLA can blacklist the broker rings hollow as it has every right to do so since it is the one who authenticates the contracts of all Filipino migrants working in Taiwan.

This is also a clear violation of the Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration’s (POEA) Memorandum Circular 19 dated November 12, 2001 (and Governing Board Resolution No. 5), workers and their Philippine agent are required to sign a Fees and Salary Declaration authenticated by the POEA. According to Philippine Labor Representative Esther Guirao, “The Declaration is signed by the worker in person at POEA, indicating his/her agreement to the charges, before departing for Taiwan. Under CLA and POEA rules, only fees indicated in the Declaration are legal.”

What the company did might be legal in its strictest sense, but it is outright unjust. According to the migrants, their supervisors did not want to let them go because of their good performance. It is also rather strange that all the 19 who were involved in the complaint against their broker would not be rehired for another year other then that it is a clear retaliation of the broker against them.

The CLA which has acted on our complaints should further investigate the matter and uphold the migrant workers rights. A provision of the Fees and Salary Declaration of Taiwan-Bound Workers states in Remarks no. 4 that “In cases of violations on collection of fees by the deploying manpower agency or Taiwan manpower agency…, the foreign worker may request the CLA for investigation. This Council shall ensure the protection of worker’s rights and confidentiality. It further states that the worker will not be subjected to any harm.”

We therefore reiterate our demand that the 19 Filipino workers including those who were already repatriated should be retained by TCI. At the same time we are also demanding that both MECO and CLA blacklist Asia Human Resources and investigate the situation of all Filipino and other workers who were recruited under it and act accordingly. We will not accept anything less. Likewise we support all other initiatives of other groups in seeking justice for the 19 migrant workers.

June 2, 2004
 

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