Migrant workers coming to Taiwan continue to face difficulties leading them to becoming undocumented. TaiwanPlus speaks with researcher Wu Jing-ru with the Taiwan International Workers Association about the labor conidtions that migrant workers face and what the government could do to improve the situation.
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00:00 More than 500 migrant workers are missing after being hired to help build a new terminal
00:05 at Taiwan's largest airport.
00:08 Legislators say over 1-thousand-300 migrant workers were hired over the past two years
00:13 for the project at Taoyuan Airport, with about 40 percent of those now missing.
00:18 The labor ministry has asked construction companies and migrant worker agencies to respond
00:22 to workers' demands for improved living conditions.
00:25 It's unclear whether the missing migrant workers have returned to their countries or are still
00:30 in Taiwan.
00:31 It's common for migrant laborers in Taiwan to leave employers without notice.
00:35 The government restricts their employment options and brokers impose heavy fees for
00:40 changing jobs.
00:43 To learn more about the difficulties migrant workers face and why they might become undocumented,
00:48 reporter Wesley Lewis spoke to researcher Wu Qingru with the Taiwan International Workers
00:53 Association.
00:54 The hundreds of migrant workers hired to build a new terminal at Taoyuan Airport remain missing.
01:00 Why might they have chosen to leave their job and risk being undocumented?
01:03 As a construction work, usually it's very hard, very difficult, long working hours.
01:11 And there is no overtime payment.
01:16 And according to the information, some government officers thinking they might be related to
01:22 some trafficking, that means labor exploitation.
01:27 The private broker agency always cause a lot of problems.
01:30 If the government could take responsibility and to implement and try, especially the governmental
01:37 project, construction project, the government to government direct hiring, I believe the
01:43 situation like runaway, like labor exploitation will reduce very much more than the situation
01:50 now.
01:52 What kind of conditions are these workers living in?
01:54 They might be deducted like dormitory, dormitory fee, foot and lodging, as we used to say,
02:02 foot and lodging fee.
02:03 And also since it's getting harder, the air condition might be extra charged.
02:12 So the long working hour, low payment and extra charge for the, for this and that fees
02:19 will be usually not make the situation unbearable.
02:26 What are the official channels the workers have for setting disputes with their employer?
02:30 They can try to reach out to 1955, although 1955 doesn't really, I mean, settle the problem
02:37 well, but at least that's a channel.
02:39 Or they can reach out to the NGO or they can reach out to even policemen.
02:44 Will this Taoyuan Airport case impact the upcoming migrant worker deal with India?
02:49 I don't think the working condition in Taiwan is charming enough for them to take the risk
02:54 to come to Taiwan where there is no much Indian friends, Indian circle, Indian culture here.
03:01 And on the other hand, the Taiwan government haven't prepared enough bilingual people for
03:07 the Indian workers yet.
03:09 I do hope not only the government serve the companies and the employers, but also they
03:16 can serve the workers to give them more transparent information about what's the situation in