Escaped Migrant Workers Become Scapegoat of “Striving for Security.”

 

　　Coolloud, an online media concerning social movements in Taiwan for a long period of time, publishes articles that go beyond the focus of mainstream media with a progressive attitude towards the struggle of Taiwanese society. This article was published by the Secretary of Taiwan International Workers Association on 27 April, 2006. Seven days ago, the Ministry of Labor announced a new policy that claims to charge heavily to employers who employ illegal migrant workers to terminate their means of livelihood, many of whom have been forced to escape from their employers. Under the circumstance of lacking rights and helplessness, the migrant workers become the victims of the employer and agents. The policy also put them into debts, forcing them onto the path of unemployment and desperation.

 

　　 Until the end of March in 2006, Taiwan had approximately 23,000 escaped migrant workers. In response to Su Zhen-chang's political commitment to "Striving for Security," the Labor Commission and the Police Department joints, announcing that starting from April 20th, they would severely punish employers employing illegal foreign workers. Maintaining an opposing perspective, Gu Yu-ling criticized the labor committee for not reviewing the policy oppression that prompted migrant workers to flee, but instead caused the victimized migrant workers to scapegoat their incompetence. This new policy pursues the path of the labor committee's intimidation of foreign workers and employers from the preceding year. Gu Yu-ling said that Su Zhen-chang's Cabinet suppresses migrant workers in Taiwan who fled to gain fundamental human rights: "The inconsistent, noxious foreign labor policy, wasting resources” is the genuine source of disorder in Taiwan's public security.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　（2006/04/27 Coolloud: https://goo.gl/vjs6yd ）

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salary Reduction, Unemployment, Debt, Escape... Is Lu Tian-lin a "killer of migrant workers?”

 

　　In 2007, the Ministry of Labor ratified 3K(commonly referred to as arduous, dirty, and dangerous work) and the three-shift industry employment applications for foreign workers who need to be approved. The policy grants 20%, 18%, or 15% of the total migrant workers to SMEs, reducing their labor costs; however it causes unemployed migrant workers to either escape or suffer in heavy debts.

 

　　 Since 2000 when DDP gained authority, Chen Shui-bian proposed to reduce the number of migrant workers by 15,000 annually and limit the number to less than 300,000; however after eight years of regime, the population exceeds 365,229. The leader of this case, Chairman Lu Tianlin, accelerated the introduction of legal labor during his tenure and deducted the basic salary of a total of 150,000 foreign domestic workers to increase subsidies for factory and construction workers up to 5,000 TWD, causing great reduction in overall wages. Moreover, since migrant workers are already the minor groups under law and regime, with the revised policy, they could only bear the pressure from occupational disasters, unpaid labors, and unpromised rights; fleeing becomes their only choice. Facing the fleeing workers, the Ministry of Labor, however, encouraged the police to arrest the lost laborers with a "catching one and rewarding two thousand" bonus. They spent countless social resources to compensate, but forgot the root of the issue, which caused a vicious cycle: migrant workers maintain negative perception of Taiwan, and at the same time set back social labor policies by a decade.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　（2008/04/27 Coolloud: https://goo.gl/vjs6yd ）

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is Taiwan ’s Bipartisan Politics Good or Bad? Gu Yuling Responded

 

　　The following report was issued in 2012, just in time for the presidential election. Gu Yuling, theChairman and Secretary of the Taiwan International Workers Association, strongly criticized the dominance of the two parties in Taiwan in her article, believing this political atmosphere does not present democraticy, and also proposed her opinions: if the goal set to protect the rights of migrant workers, the most applicable is to participate in politics and pave your own way.

 

　　Gu Yuling said that abolishing martial law would democratize Taiwan's politics and polarize its economy; however, in the past 25 years, Taiwan has adopted the American-style democracy, which has caused bipartisan dominance and does not represent true democracy. Economically, industries and labor systems have allowed laissez-faire capital migration, such as the southward advance in the 1980s and the westward advance in the 1990s, resulting in deregulated and flexible labor conditions with unstable employment. In the future, labour movements should be viable through two ways: first, no more fighting alone, but transcends “labor consciousness” to “social class consciousness,” with social consciousness as the base, form social movement alliances. For example,the expropriation of agricultural land aimed to assist Taiwanese businessmen return to Taiwan to invest and build factories; however, these manufacturers demanded that the wages of migrant workers be decoupled from the basic wages, and the agricultural movement has become a topic of the labor movement; the agricultural movements have led to labor movements. Likewise, the policies of health insurance and Long-term Care primarily impact the workers and disabled.

 

　　The second critical pathway is to participate in politics, organize the party and terminate any dependence on political forces. The early labour movement was decoupled by Taiwanese political party’s spectrum of reunification, which caused the public to discuss whether they should join the DPP. But from "betting" and "selling" to now, from the ideology of Chen Shuibian to Lin Yishi’s, the change proves that both parties could not prevent plutocracy. The future is a crucial time to establish an independent political group for workers, showing political influence and no longer hand in democracy to the two major parties to monopolize.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　（2012/07/14 United Evening News, Chen-Suling）

 

 

 

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