The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislative caucus yesterday threatened to freeze the annual budget of the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) if it fails to improve the working conditions and human rights of foreign laborers, in the aftermath of a riot by Thai workers in Kaohsiung.
"The government should use this incident to reflect, and ponder a way to solve this problem," TSU Legislator Tseng Tsan-teng (
About 300 Thai workers, who are building Kaohsiung mass rapid transit (MRT) system, set fire to a management office and damaged other facilities on Sunday night as they vented their anger for what they called inhumane treatment.
PHOTO: WANG RONG-HSIANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Tseng said that although the CLA has set up a toll-free hotline for foreign workers, the line is always busy and the call center is understaffed, with only four people.
Tseng called on the government to look into the rumor that some government officials, including former and incumbent lawmakers, are behind broker company's exploitation and maltreatment of foreign workers.
"I have heard that one former lawmaker has been using his privileges to manipulate the foreign laborer market, and that he is not acting alone but as a group," he said, refusing to elaborate.
TSU Legislator Lai Shin-yuan (
She cited a media report indicating that an inmate stays in a room that is about 0.7 ping, but a Thai worker gets to stay in a space that is only 0.47 ping. The Thai workers are not allowed to use or own cellphones, while prisoners get to see visitors via videoconferencing devices.
Lai said that such maltreatment is just the tip of the iceberg.
"Since foreign workers were first introduced to the local labor market in 1989, the CLA has been conniving with broker companies to exploit foreign workers like slaves," she said.
Another TSU legislator, David Huang (
Saying that it is an "open secret" that some lawmakers collude with broker companies to bring in foreign laborers and share benefits, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Chong-hsiung (
In related developments, Thailand said yesterday it will delay sending some 800 laborers to Taiwan while it reviews the contracts of its overseas workers.
Thai Labor Minister Somsak Thepsutin said the violence was an isolated incident and would not affect the country's reputation.
"We will delay the travel of 800 workers going to Taiwan and we will review all contracts, starting with those in Taiwan," he told reporters.
Somsak did not say why the contracts would be reviewed, but Thai media reports have said that many of the arrangements are unfair to workers.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the de facto Thai embassy in Taipai was negotiating with authorities there.
He added that he opposed sending unskilled laborers to other countries.
According to statistics of National Police Administration (NPA), workers from Thailand form the largest foreign labor group in Taiwan. NPA figures show there are now more than 94,000 Thai people working in the country.
In terms of nationality, 94,742 foreign workers were from Thailand, accounting for 34.1 percent of all foreign laborers in the country.
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