The riot of Thai workers in Kaohsiung City has exposed the problems with the current brokerage system for importing foreign laborers.
Currently, foreign laborers can be brought in via three different channels: Through a brokerage agency in Taiwan and in the country of origin, through an employer and brokerage company in the country of origin, and through the assistance of an embassy or representative office in Taiwan and its counterpart in the country of origin -- better known as the "state-to-state" importation system.
In Kaohsiung City's case, the mass rapid transit (MRT) company had told the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) that it would import the Thai workers to build the city's MRT system via the so-called "state-to-state" importation mechanism in a bid to shake off brokerage fees.
PHOTO: WANG JUNG-HSIANG, TAIPEI TIMES
In other words, the company would have asked for help from the representative offices, or sent its own people to Thailand to select the workers.
However, it turned out that the MRT firm hired a company to get the workers, and another company -- suspected of being affiliated with the brokerage agency -- to manage them.
DIRTY MONEY?
Prosecutors are now investigating why the MRT company hired the brokerage agency in the first place, as well as why it picked that particular company and where the brokerage fees came from and where they went. Prosecutors are very curious about the relationship between the brokerage agency and the management company.
There were over 300,000 foreign laborers in the country as of February this year, according to statistics released by the labor council. Brokerage fees vary from country to country.
Take Thailand for example. The brokerage fee a Thai worker pays to his or her broker in Thailand averages between NT$45,000 and NT$50,000. On top of this amount, they also have to pay a brokerage fee here after they arrive.
The monthly fee mandated by the labor council is NT$1,800 for the first year, NT$1,700 the second year and NT$1,500 the third year. The monthly charge for laborers returning for the second contract is NT$1,500. Brokerage companies overcharging their clients are subject to a fine 10 times the amount of the infraction.
Some brokerage companies, however, still manage to overcharge their clients. The amount could total as much as NT$150,000.
"Dishonest brokerage companies can easily cheat foreign workers," said the owner of a Taipei-based brokerage company, who preferred to be identified as Ms. Hsu. "Some unfortunate people are bilked -- fleeced and skinned like a sheep."
There are many problems with the current brokerage channel, Hsu said.
COSTS
First of all, the decreed brokerage fees are not sufficient to cover costs, especially when the number of clients employed by a single employer is few, because brokerage agencies are required by the council to conduct regular visits and offer necessary assistance to their clients.
In addition, Hsu said that the council usually fails to give brokerage agencies and employers an adequate amount of time to react when it plans to freeze the importation of foreign laborers or increase the fees employers are required to pay to the government.
Nor does it make sense for the government to compel all Indonesian laborers to borrow their brokerage fees from the government-designated bank, China Trust.
The policy is aimed at preventing brokerage companies from overcharging.
In response, Fan Lai-chin (
"The labor council should sit down and talk with brokerage companies," he said. "Improvements must be made if their requests make sense."
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
RSS