APMM Supports Calls to Abolish the Brokers System in Taiwan
23 October 2006

The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants together with Migrante Sectoral Party - Taiwan chapter support calls by migrant NGOs in Taiwan to abolish the broker system. Not only is the broker system exploitative. It also takes over the responsibility and accountability of the employers towards its workers.

The Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) has admitted on August 23, 2006 that employers have to get the services of professional management staff when they need to hire foreign workers. By passing on the management responsibility and accountability of the employers to the brokers, the latter would be faulted if there were mistreatments on the foreign workers. Thus the exploitative policies of the employers towards migrant workers would be covered up.

At the same time, it is usually the brokers who are used by the employers to intimidate foreign workers into signing onerous side agreements that practically substitutes the original contracts signed in the migrant sending countries. This includes provisions for no or limited days off on those working in homes, forcing migrants to accept forced savings and many others that violates their labor and human rights.

That is why there is a need for migrant workers to have a standard employment contract that renders such side agreements as null and void. Existing side agreements with the migrant workers currently in Taiwan should be abolished.

With regards to caretakers and domestic helpers working in homes, they should have the same rights as other migrant workers in other job categories.

There has already been a success in abolishing at least the monthly brokers fee in the guise of service fees in the Formosa Plastics Corporation (FPC) in Mailiao, Yun Lin County. This was one of the demands won by the 5000 Filipino and Thai workers in their third strike in March 13 ¡V14, 2006.

Thus, it is imperative that the experience of the migrant workers at the FPC in their fight against the broker¡¦s unjust practices must be emulated in other factories and worksites.

We enjoin migrant workers organizations, advocates and friends in Taiwan to come together and join the fight against the unjust and exploitative brokers system.

Abolish the broker system!
Implement a Standard Employment Contract!
Abolish Side Agreements!
Uphold the Labor and Human Rights of Migrant Workers!

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CLA urged to help curb migrant worker abuse

Advocates call for abolition of brokerage system and implementation of 'state-to-state' program

By Chang Ling-yin
Taiwan News, Staff Reporter
Page 3
2006-10-18 12:48 AM

Migrant worker advocates urged the government yesterday to abolish the use of private brokers in recruiting foreign laborers and implement a "state-to-state" system in its place.

The Hope Workers' Center, the Taiwan International Workers' Association and the Vietnamese Migrant Workers and Bribes Office all stressed at a press conference that the private brokerage system currently used to match migrant laborers with local employers was the main source of exploitation against the workers, and needed to be changed.

The Council of Labor Affairs (³Ò©e·|) has tried to limit the expenses migrants pay to their brokers, in part by encouraging labor middlemen in the workers' home countries not to charge a brokerage fee of more than NT$15,840, the minimum wage in Taiwan.

The council has also stipulated that domestic brokers are not allowed to collect brokerage fees from migrant workers during their stay in Taiwan except for a monthly "service fee" of NT$1,500 to NT$1,800.

The Hope Workers' Center and Vietnamese workers group emphasized, however, that these constraints have done little to ease the burden on foreign workers employed here.

Representatives of the center said that local brokers often ask their counterparts in foreign countries to share the brokerage fees, with the actual amount paid by migrants being three to 20 times the minimum wage.

Statistics provided by the two labor rights groups showed that the actual brokerage fee paid by the average Vietnamese worker was US$7,500 to US$8,500 while Thai, Indonesian and Filipino workers were asked to pay NT$110,000 to NT$150,000, NT$130,000 to NT$150,000 and NT$65,000 to NT$85,000 respectively.

Moreover, in addition to the legal monthly service fee, some domestic brokers create other pretexts to collect money from migrant workers, the labor advocates indicated.

Kuomintang lawmaker Joanna Lei, who convened the press conference, argued that the existing brokerage system treated migrant workers as "commodities. "

She said the gravity of the problem and the government's lack of focus in dealing with it was reflected in the latest U.S. Department of State "Trafficking in Persons Report," which relegated Taiwan to the "Tier 2 Watch List" for ignoring the interests and rights of migrant workers.

Lei urged the Council of Labor Affairs to give greater priority to dealing with migrant laborer issues and strengthen policies in this area.

One suggestion made by Lei and the labor rights groups was for the government to take over the brokering function because private brokers and onerous broker fees were the main sources of migrant worker abuse.

A Vietnamese caregiver nicknamed "A Ming" supported the contention that the middlemen were the ones making workers' lives difficult.

She claimed that her Taiwanese broker "sold" her to illegal employers six times, where she did hard jobs but received a total salary of only NT$2,500 per month.

The Hope Workers' Center further urged that steps be taken to protect migrant workers' interests and their human rights on the job, citing the case of two Filipino workers at a paper factory in Taoyuan who died of exhaustion in June and July respectively after they were forced to work 16-hour days and had requests to take a break denied.

The groups called on the government to allow foreign workers to switch employers freely and give them the right to organize a labor union to protect their own interests.

They also suggested that not only migrant workers but also foreign caregivers should be protected by domestic laws that would give them the right to time off and empower them to refuse to work excessively long hours.

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