Analysis: Migrant Fishers Fight for Rights in Taiwan
As the plight of an unpaid migrant fisher crew puts this Taiwanese industry under scrutiny again, TaiwanPlus asks why Taiwan has such a bad track record on migrant rights and what can be done to improve the situation.
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00:00Could you tell us a bit about the conditions under which migrant fishers work and how do
00:04they differ from other workers in Taiwan?
00:08I think that the biggest difference is that they are far and remote and out of touch.
00:14They have a life around the high seas without being in any contact with any other people
00:22because the issue is that they may not have the Wi-Fi or the satellite phone, which is
00:30also a key issue in this particular case.
00:35The other problems come with that problem because when you are far and out of touch
00:41and not being able to contact people at home or with your employer, then you're really
00:49at mercy of the management of the captain and also the structure of the crew.
00:59Taiwan is often commended for its progress on human rights and being a democratic country,
01:04but it has this issue with how it treats its migrant workers.
01:09Why do you think that is?
01:11This is an issue of class, gender and ethnicity being intersected with each other and created
01:20a structure where people from Southeast Asia will be discriminated.
01:27I think the most obvious challenge for us is that if we want to maintain productivity,
01:35that manufacturing industry could produce their products on demand and punctually and
01:45in a good quality, all our very sick people, young people and those elderly people to have
01:55good quality of care, then we rely on migrant workers.
01:59However, they're being employed as a supplement to our national workforce.
02:04They are seen as temporary workers because they are not allowed to apply for residency.
02:11The issues facing migrant fishers has been flagged to the government for a long time now.
02:15How successful have government efforts to reform the industry been and what are migrant
02:21fishers asking for?
02:23The more recent campaign that has been launched by the civil society organisations is the
02:30Wi-Fi campaign.
02:32I think that is a key element or key improvement that can prevent issues like this particular
02:41case where the communication between the agent and the workers and the communication between
02:47the owner and the fishers can be improved if Wi-Fi is available on their vessels.
02:56So I think overall the workers, if we put it in principle, then what they need, what
03:03they want and what they demand is to be treated as workers and enjoy the rights granted to
03:10workers.
03:11Fishermen, particularly the distant water fishermen and domestic workers are not protected
03:19by the Labour Standards Act and that seems to be the root cause of their grievances.