Company and government bully migrants
In December 2003, the Hsinchu Confederation of Trade Unions and Hong Kong-based migrant group APMM pressured recruitment agency, Asia Human Resources, to repay 19 Filipino migrant workers who the agency had overcharged NT$6,000 (US$180) each for twenty months.

APMM asserts that the agency then convinced the company not to rehire the 19 when their contracts expired. Subsequently the first of these left Taiwan on 20 May; the rest left in June.

Taiwanese groups, including the Labour Rights Association and the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions protested to the government’s Council of Labour Affairs (CLA) in June about the effective blacklisting of the 19 workers, but the CLA passed the buck saying that there was no proof of pressure from the agency and the protestors should take the issue to the Hsinchu County Labour Office. However the CLA declared willingness to see if the agency had overcharged other clients.

The APMM pointed out that an effective way of stopping such overcharging would be simply to boycott Asia Human Resources’ activities in Taiwan. But Taiwanese officials retorted that what the agency did was not illegal. This may be true though the Fees and Salary Declaration of Taiwan-Bound Workers rules: “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 [CLA] shall ensure the protection of worker’s rights and confidentiality. It further states that the worker will not be subjected to any harm.”

This is yet another case of government siding with business interests: the agency overcharged, the law says workers will not be affected in these cases, the government sits on its hands, and the workers ultimately suffer discrimination.

APMM bulletin, 2 June 2004