I Have it “Maid” in Taiwan: Runaway Filipino Domestic Household Workers and Taiwan’s Foreign Labor Policy

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(1)國立政治大學亞太研究英語碩士學位學程 College of Social Sciences National Chengchi University. 碩士論文 Master’s Thesis. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. I Have it “Maid” in Taiwan: Runaway Filipino Domestic Household Workers and Taiwan’s Foreign Labor Policy. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Student: Alex Wolfgram Advisor: Hsiao-hung Nancy Chen 中華民國 2012 年 3 月 March, 2012.

(2) I Have it “Maid” in Taiwan: Runaway Filipino Domestic Household Workers and Taiwan’s Foreign Labor Policy. 研究生：沃爾夫. Student: Alex Wolfgram. 指導教授：陳小紅. Advisor: Hsiao-hung Nancy Chen. 國立政治大學亞太研究英語碩士學位學程. 立. 政治大碩士論文. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 A Thesis. y. Nat. er. io. sit. Submitted to International Master’s Program in Asia-Pacific Studies. n. National a Chengchi University v. i l C n U h e n gofcthe In partial fulfillment h i Requirement For the degree of Master in China Studies. 中華民國 2012 年 3 月 March, 2012. 1.

(3) TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT PREFACE. 1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….9 1.1 Research Questions 1.2 Methodology 1.3 Challenges 1.4 Background of Foreign Migrant Workers into Taiwan 1.5 Why do Taiwanese Want Maids?. 政治大. 2. MAID IN TAIWAN……………………………....................................................18. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 3.1 Tasks Performed by Domestic Care Workers 3.1.1 Viki’s Story 3.1.2 Josephine’s Story 3.2 Employer’s Point of View 3.2.1 Mr. Wang’s Story 3.2.2 Mrs. Wu’s Story 3.3 MECO’s Perception of Why DHWs Run Away 3.4 DHWs Brought to Other Countries by Taiwanese Employers 3.5 What Happens if Workers Flee and Are Caught? 3.6 How Are Migrant Workers Making Their Voices Known?. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. i Un. v. 3. I HAVE IT MADE IN TAIWAN………………………………………………...26. engchi. 2.1 Why Workers Run Away 2.2 Taiwan’s Policies Towards Migrant Workers 2.3 Brokers 2.4 Placement Fees 2.5 Quota System 2.6 Job Description. 4. DHWs AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH TAIWANESE EMPLOYERS..34 4.1 Chinese Characteristics and Work 4.2 Boundaries Between Taiwanese Families and DHWs 4.3 Restrictions on DHWs and How They Effect Worker’s Interactions With Employers. 2.

(4) 5. COPING MECHANISM…………………………………………………………45 5.1 Actions Taken by The Philippine’s Representative(s) in Taiwan 5.2 Actions Taken by Taiwanese Organizations. 6. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………...…46 6.1 World Reactions and The Importance of Migrant Workers TABLES……………………………………………………………………………...53 PICTURES…………………………………………………………………………...59 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………….78. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 3. i Un. v.

(5) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I would like to thank my thesis advisor, Hsiao-hung Nancy Chen, for all her help, guidance and insight on this project as well my thesis committee for all their excellent input and efforts. I would also like to thank Nick Vaky for helping me film all of my interviews in hope that we may turn them into a documentary. Thank you to John McKiel for all those late nights we spent talking endlessly about issues in Taiwan and China, for your input helped me gain direction and inspiration for this project. And thank you especially to my parents, family members and friends who have shown their support and enthusiasm throughout the years of my studies in Asia. It is my hope that this paper may provide a further understanding of the complex issues blue-collar. 政治大. foreign workers or “migrant workers” confront in Taiwan and to present resolutions. 立. for certain complex issues dealing with migrant workers in Taiwan that in my opinion,. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. will benefit not only Taiwanese, but also various peoples from Southeast Asia.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 4. i Un. v.

(6) ABSTRACT Migrant workers in Taiwan have been running away for 20 years since the Taiwanese government opened its doors to Filipinos, Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesians back in 1992. Taiwan opened its doors to migrant workers as a way to compete in the global market but did so without taking the proper actions for dealing with migrant worker’s rights. Since then, numerous amounts of cases of human rights violations have been reported in Taiwan and the number of runaways has been increasing. Numerous NGOs in Taiwan are calling on the Taiwanese government to revise its policies towards the workers and claim that the situation of runaways will not improve unless the government steps in and takes further action to protect and liberalize workers. This paper will observe how policies are affecting migrant workers, specifically. 政治大 context of Taiwanese and their attitudes towards work ethics and morality affect the 立 outcome of runaways and their disposition in Taiwan. caregivers or Domestic Household Workers (DHWs), as well as whether the cultural. ‧ 國. 學 ‧. Key Words： Runaway; Domestic Household Worker (DHW); migrant worker; foreign labor policies; cultural psychology; coping mechanism;. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 5. i Un. v.

(7) PREFACE When I first arrived in Taiwan back in May 2008, I was surprised by the amount of Filipinos, Indonesians and Vietnamese I saw at various places taking care of Taiwan’s elderly and young kids. I wasn’t aware that Taiwan’s elderly percentage was around 10% and that it was common for families to have a DHW take care of their children while at work. It wasn’t long after my arrival that I discovered that migrant workers play a major role in Taiwan’s economy. I became interested in understanding these workers’ lives and their interactions with their employers, for I too was a foreigner in Taiwan and felt that it was important to converse with other foreigners to see how they were adapting.. 政治大. It was difficult to meet with many migrant workers unless it was on a Sunday (their primary day off) due to their rigorous work schedule. If I was able to meet with. 立. one, it generally meant they were happy in Taiwan and got along with their employers.. ‧ 國. 學. However, for every migrant worker I met, they seemed to know 3 others who were not doing so great since they rarely had a day off. Quite often the workers I met told. ‧. me of stories that dealt with, what I would call “unfortunate incidents” with their past employers or about their friends’ situations. After hearing a lot of their stories, the. y. Nat. sit. details stayed clear in my mind in the passing years and I felt compelled to research. al. er. io. migrant workers from the Philippines in Taiwan.. n. My research has brought a filmmaker friend of mine and myself all over. Ch. i Un. v. Taipei to various NGOs, research centers, churches, clubs and care centers for. engchi. migrant workers. It has also brought us to the Philippines to interview broker agencies and the processes they do to prepare workers for coming to Taiwan. I made a point to investigate agencies because the workers I met with in Taiwan said the brokers in the Philippines communicated things much differently than ones in Taiwan in terms of workloads and responsibilities, which later lead to confusion and misunderstandings between workers and their employers. By understanding these contrasts, the reader may have a more comprehensible view as to why the workers are choosing to go abroad, what their expectations are, as well as what training and information is given to them before they reach Taiwan and if there are conflicts of interests between employers and employees. It is my hope that this paper will reveal the loopholes in the systems and rules governing migrant workers, particularly in Taiwan, in order to show how they affect 6.

(8) workers’ lives. I also hope this paper will inspire methods for the safety and protection of migrant workers in their working environments as well as the drastic change and reforms that needs to occur. By doing so, it is my personal hope that by eliminating the core reasons why workers runaway, Taiwan can further stabilize its economy and society, build a better international image as well as let migrant workers have a more positive experience in Taiwan. I give you my sincere gratitude for reading this paper and hope that one day peoples of different races will be able to understand and cooperate with each other more efficiently within this interdependent, ever-changing, diverse world.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 7. i Un. v.

(9) CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Migrant workers originating from the Philippines play a major role in Taiwan’s society. In Taiwan, they earn their living by working mostly as factory workers and DHWs. DHWs give treatment to Taiwan’s increasingly elderly population, take care of employer’s children and perform many other tasks such as cooking and cleaning. Since the Taiwanese government opened its doors to migrant workers from abroad back in 1992, there have been many reported cases of runaway workers in the DHW sector. The number of foreign workers who are missing, performing undocumented work or are on the run has been rising for the most part in recent years.. 政治大. A report by the Control Yuan showed that as of August 2011, the whereabouts of. 立. 31,170 foreign workers, from a total of 412,933, were unknown. Within that number,. ‧ 國. 學. Filipinos make up the third largest number of around 2,000.1. While the number of runaways has been increasing over the years, the core. ‧. issues causing these workers to flee haven’t been addressed thoroughly. The ramifications of this is causing Taiwan’s society to be less stable than it could be and. sit. y. Nat. is putting migrant workers in unfortunate positions amongst an environment that is. io. er. ever so reliant on them.. While at present Filipinos have the third highest rate of runaway workers, the. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. author has chosen to examine runaway cases with them specifically since they have. engchi. the longest history of working in Taiwan compared to Vietnamese, Thai and Indonesian migrant workers. Policies towards these blue-collar foreign workers in Taiwan stretch back to 1992 when Filipinos started entering the island and have been largely associated to runaway cases as well as Taiwanese understanding of the phenomenon of migrant workers. Understanding the history of policies in connection with runaway Filipinos can help understand not only why Filipinos runaway, but also why other foreign DHWs flee as well. This paper will examine the reasons why Filipino DHMs run away from their employers. It proposes the phenomenon of runaway migrant workers is due to lack of government policy towards foreigners in the blue-collar sector, which is augmenting cultural misunderstandings between Taiwanese employers and their DHWs. More so, understanding the cultural psychology behind work ethics, human rights issues and 8.

(10) the expectations Taiwanese have for nationalities such as Filipinos is important and communication issues between employers and employees will be addressed as well. The paper will also display a comparison of the demographics and backgrounds of employers and employees as well as morality and education from the Taiwanese point of view in order to give the reader a comprehensive view on the subject matter.. Research Questions The research questions for this thesis are as follows: Has Taiwan’s government created policies toward foreign workers in the blue-collar sector ensured to protect their basic rights and freedoms? Is there a connection between government. 政治大. policy and Taiwanese citizen’s behavior towards foreign workers? What are the expectations that Taiwanese have for their DHWs and what are Taiwanese work. 立. values? Also, how can both Taiwan and the Philippines’ governments help improve. ‧ 國. 學. migrant workers situations?. ‧. Methodology. y. Nat. sit. My research methods include participatory observation and open-ended. al. er. io. interviews with workers; in-depth interviews with employers, recruitment agencies. n. (manpower agencies) from the Philippines, and migrant-oriented activists; meetings. Ch. i Un. v. with NGOs such as Holy Spirit Church, Saint Christopher Church, Center of Foreign. engchi. Workers under the Bureau of Vocational Training, Migrant Workers Concern Desk, government institutions such as the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA), and the Manila Economic and Culture Office in Taipei (MECO). So far I have made a trip to the Philippines and have interviewed two broker agencies. I have also met with eight different runaways in Taiwan, three Taiwanese employers and various representatives at MECO, including the director at the time, Reydeluz D. Conferido. I have also met with several Taiwanese NGOs that promote migrant workers rights in Taiwan, a pastor at St. Christopher’s Church in Taipei City as well as 10 other Filipino DHWs that haven’t ran away in order to share their perception of runaway workers, and I have interviewed 10 other Taiwanese who don’t have DHWs to understand their perceptions and attitudes towards the workers. I feel. 9.

(11) that this paper is in need of one-on-one interviews in order to concretely understand the thoughts and perceptions of migrant workers, Taiwanese employers and citizens.. Challenges Cost factor was an issue to get to the Philippines, for if I hadn’t spent my own money on a plane ticket, lodging and transportation, I could have stayed longer and done more in depth research. The rest of my interviews with Taiwanese employees, employers, manpower agencies, and citizens have taken up a lot of time and money, for arranging interviews through telephone calls and taking different modes of transportation to and from various locations has been cash all out of my own pocket.. 政治大. More so, I have been conducting about half of the interviews in Chinese Mandarin and while I do feel competent in the language, it has been tiring translating Taiwanese. 立. concepts and ideas thoroughly into English.. ‧ 國. 學. Finding employers to talk about this topic is difficult largely due to privacy issues. Contacting past employers of runaway workers to compare the worker and. ‧. employer’s story of why the worker ran away was not conducted, for some of the. Nat. sit. if I were to reveal that I know the whereabouts of a run away.. y. workers are of illegal status and this would put both me and the worker in a legal bind. al. er. io. In addition, while there are runaway Filipinos who work in factories, I have. n. chosen to focus on DHWs due to the nature of the relationship between them and their. Ch. i Un. v. employers as well as the unique roles DHWs play in Taiwanese households. In the. engchi. future I would like to do more comprehensive research that involves factory workers but that would require more funding and time. However, I do feel that observing the Taiwanese employer/migrant worker employee relationship in the DHW setting can allow people to sufficiently understand the challenges both sides face with each other within Taiwan’s work setting.. Background of foreign migrant workers into Taiwan. To understand why Filipinos started coming to Taiwan for work, understanding some brief history of both the Philippine’s and Taiwan’s economic and political history is a must. The Philippines had a growth period from 1952 to 1969 and had a much stronger economy than other nations in the Asia Pacific during that 10.

(12) time. However, the country’s industrialization slowed down due to political corruption and internal conflicts. The Marcos government implemented an economic plan that depended heavily on U.S. War efforts in Vietnam in the 1960s, and left an ill-suited to local needs (Espiritu 1995). The economic situation continued to deteriorate and augmented a gigantic foreign debt. The Philippines started to systematically deploy Filipinos for work overseas during the time of then President Marcos in the mid-70s. This new wave of labor migration came at a time when there was a huge unemployment and underemployment crisis in the country. While the Marcos regime said that exporting Filipino labor was only a “stop-gap measure”, poverty as a result of chronic economic crisis continued. And so successive regimes not only continued what Marcos started but institutionalized and intensified the export of labor.. 政治大. By the early 1980s, inflation had reached an average of 32 percent, and about. 立. two-thirds of the population lived below the poverty line (Constable 1997). In 1986,. ‧ 國. 學. during the depth of the economic crisis, the unemployed population included 277,000 college graduates, together with another 284,000 who had some college education.. ‧. The number of college graduates in the 1990s is estimated to be similar (Abella 1994). More so, real wages have deteriorated since the mid-1980s with the further. y. Nat. sit. devaluation of the peso after the implementation of economic liberalization (Basch et. al. er. io. al. 1994). The deepening economic crisis in the Philippines has aggravated the. n. migration of Filipinos abroad to the point where 8 million people, more than 10% of. Ch. i Un. v. the population, now work abroad as migrant labor in 186 countries.. engchi. Filipino migrant workers are from four relatively developed regions (out of 16 regions in the whole country) - Metropolitan Manila (17%), Southern Tagalong (17%), Central Luzon (17%) and Ilcos (12%). 1 Out of all the workers I interviewed, income maximization was their main purpose for coming to Taiwan. In the Philippines, the unemployment rate since the early 1990s has been around 10%. As of 2011, the unemployment rate was estimated at 7.2 percent, while the employment rate was recorded at 92.4 percent (see table 1). The National Statistics Office (NSO) reported saying that there were more unemployed males than females. Almost half (48.9%) of the unemployed were in age group 15 to 24 years. More than one third of the unemployed were high school graduates, and almost two-fifth (39.1%) reached 1 2. Statistics from the Migration Information Source NSO’s annual unemployment report 11.

(13) college education. The regions that posted high employment rates in 2011 were Cagayan Valley and Zamboanga Peninsula, each registering a rate of 96.9 percent, SOCCSKSARGEN, 96.8 percent, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), 96.1 percent, and MIMAROPA, 95.7 percent. The National Capital Region (NCR) had the lowest employment rate at 88.0 percent. 2 Although the unemployment rate has been decreasing since 2006, the wages in the Philippines are still far too low for workers to survive on, according to many of the interviewees (see tables 2, 3, and 4). For Filipinos, they see Taiwan as a plus because the average salary offered combined with living costs has allowed Filipinos to save more money compared to working in other Asian countries. Most Filipinos choose to work in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, or Taiwan because not only are. 政治大. those places closer to their home country, there is more demand for DHWs there compared to places in the Middle East like Saudia Arabia, where Filipino DHWs are. 立. also being sent to.. ‧ 國. 學. In Taiwan, its government legally opened the gate for migrant workers in 1992 to work as factory workers and later again in 1995 to allow DHWs as a solution to the. ‧. growing demands for commoditized care for children, the elderly, and ill family members among expanding nuclear households and aging population. The. y. Nat. sit. government was also responding to the urgent needs for low-wage labor claimed by. al. er. io. Taiwanese capitalists and to ensure surplus accumulation in the labor-intensive. n. industries that lost their competitive advantage in the global market (Lan 2002). Since. Ch. i Un. v. Taiwan saw its “economic miracle” from the mid 1980s due to millions of small and. engchi. medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that exported labor-intensive manufactured products, Taiwan and the other East Asian tigers have been facing pressure for economic restructuring and industrial upgrading due to a rise of local labor costs. One can see the need for migrant workers in Taiwan based on the large amount who are on the island as of 2011 as identified in Tables 5 and 6. Since Taiwan is largely composed of small and medium-size enterprises, they needed a way to compete more in the global market and were left with the choice of either relocating to China or Southeast Asian countries, or to replace domestic workers with low-paid foreign migrant workers. While Taiwan's government has often resorted to economic diplomatic policy, which involves consolidating bilateral. 12.

(14) relations through increasing international trade and foreign investment grounded on the island's economic power, most Taiwanese decided to employ foreign workers in Taiwan. This was despite that in 1994 Taiwan's former President, Lee Teng-Huei, formally announced a “going south” policy that encouraged direct foreign investment in Southeast Asia and establish political and economic ties with ASEAN countries. It was also considered more easy and convenient for workers to come to Taiwan and have them adapt to local lifestyle instead of having factory owners adjust their lives abroad. More so, Filipinos were largely sought out in the early 1990s because they have a reputation for doing the “Three D” jobs (dirty, dangerous, and demeaning). They were more educated and could generally speak English better compared to. 政治大. Indonesian and Vietnamese counterparts. This was seen as a plus by employers for communication issues, translation and software manual writing, as well as for helping. 立. their businesses expand abroad particularly in the computer sector, where Taiwan was. ‧ 國. 學. the third largest computer hardware supplier in the world in the early to mid 1990s. During an interview I had with the director at MECO, he elaborated on the. ‧. considerations Filipinos make for choosing to go abroad to work and why Taiwan is favorable. He said that Filipinos don’t prefer going to work in countries like Japan or. y. Nat. sit. South Korea more than in Taiwan. However, generally speaking the main. al. er. io. consideration for workers when they go overseas is economics so when they see the. n. best economic opportunities available to them, that’s where they go. 3. Ch. i Un. v. He further said that in the case of Japan, the main market there use to be. engchi. entertainment or for maritime work so normally the people who go there possess those skills, whereas in Taiwan the most dominant work is factory work, especially in the electronic sector along with caretaking. More so, he said there are more than 54,000 Filipino factory workers and about 23,000 caretakers, so the qualifications of a job is also a consideration of why workers choose to go to a particular country. 4 Many Filipinos also said that they are family-oriented type and that Taiwan is the nearest place they can work outside of the Philippines, thus making it a favorite destination to work. These reasons show although diverse routes and purposes of migration are also involved, migrant worker’s movements across borders have came largely as a result in the era of globalization, multiple layers of uneven development 3 4. Interview with Reydeluz D. Conferido, Director of MECO in June, 2011 Ibid 13.

(15) within the global economy and the desire to live a life free of destitution. Within this reorganization of social classifications and identities, migration has become a primary narrative of identity formation as well as a means to provide a living for workers and their families back in their native land. Filipinos going to Taiwan as well as other countries is helping them achieve their needs.. Why do Taiwanese want maids?. As mentioned before, Taiwan opened its doors to migrant workers to help compete in the global market, originally in labor-intensive sectors such as manufacturing and construction, and later extended to domestic household workers.. 政治大. But there are also many other reasons aside from benefiting the technology sector that appeal to Taiwanese- that being the need for DHWs.. 立. The monthly salary for a DHW from 1992 until the end of 2007 has been the. ‧ 國. 學. same- the average monthly wage for a documented migrant live-in worker is NT$15,840 and undocumented ones receive NT$22,000-25,000, whereas the price for 5. In 2007, according to the. ‧. a live-in Taiwanese worker may cost NT$35,000.. “Employment Service Act” in Taiwan, migrant workers are entitled to rights and. y. Nat. sit. welfare stipulated in the Labor Standards Law, including a minimum wage of. al. er. io. NT$17,280 approximately US$585 per month, working hours (8 hours a day and 48. n. hours a week), days off (1 day a week plus 7 days of annual leave), and health. Ch. i Un. v. insurance (the employer is responsible for 60 percent, the government for 10 percent,. engchi. and the worker for 30 percent). The salary for migrant workers later increased to NT$17,880 in 2011.. 6. At these rates, most Taiwanese who are of upper-middle to upper class can afford a DHW, although in cases where a family member may be terminally ill and it is more cost effective to hire a DHM instead of hospital care, middle class families will hire one as well. Taiwanese can save much more money hiring a legal migrant worker compared to a local and take advantage of not paying the worker for overtime, even though that is against the law. They also provide an extra room in the house for the DHM, which allows the worker to be within the employer’s presence at all times.. 5 6. Statistics according to Taiwan’s Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) An annual survey done by Taiwan’s Government Information Office 14.

(16) According to Lan Pei-chia’s research (Lan 2003), more privileged women hire domestic help as a means to negotiate their individual career achievement and social responsibilities as a mother and a wife. As women are becoming more independent and achieving more equality within Taiwan’s workforce, they are seeking their own potential outside the traditional housewife setting. Homemakers are seeking relief from domestic work and this is causing dual-career couples to be more and more pervasive. In the past, the role of the female was to provide as the caregiver while the father plays a figure of authority; however, that is no longer the case. As a result, Taiwanese women's participation in waged employment has been rising during the last few decades and the idea of being a full-time mother is less appealing to women as they are becoming more concerned with pursuing individual careers and. 政治大. independent lives outside of the traditional household.. As a result, the need for childcare and housework has become higher in. 立. demand. Over the last 3 years that I have been in Taiwan, I have seen more and more. ‧ 國. 學. DHWs assisting children. In Taiwan, most children go to cram schools (buxiban) after their regular schooling in order to keep up with the high competition in Taiwan's. ‧. schools and jobs. Kids also often go to daycare and are always required to be picked up by a family member/supervisor due to regular school busing having already. y. Nat. sit. stopped. While working part-time at various cram schools teaching English, I have. al. er. io. seen just as many Filipino DHMs pick up students as Taiwanese parents. However, in. n. other parts of Taipei where kids are going to schools that are considered higher class,. Ch. i Un. v. cram school teachers report that about 90% of students are picked up from their DHW. engchi. or “Aunty” (ayi). 7 Locals say that this is due to a mixture of both parents being very busy at work and also as a way to show one’s economic status despite all of these activities performed by DHWs are technically illegal. Aside from Taiwanese females wanting to be more independent and prominent in the work sector, many Taiwanese who I spoke with who are familiar with DHWs in Taiwanese households or who hire a DHW, say DHWs are important in order for Taiwanese families to pursue the type of life they want and that it is still more lucrative to have the mother go to work and make anywhere from NT$35,00050,000 (USD$1,100-1,700). However, given the cost of the DHW and the amount of money parents need to pay monthly at cram schools in order for their kids to get extra 7. Ayi or 阿姨 translates to “aunty”, who is the older or younger sister of one’s mother as opposed to Gugu or 姑姑, who is the older or younger sister of one’s father. 15.

(17) mentoring instead of them doing it themselves, there isn’t a large sum of money left over. However, for Taiwanese not only should the DHW teach their children English and do housework, but also, they are almost always doing another task such as taking care of someone elder in the family, who is either too frail or ill to take care of themselves. Most Taiwanese say that this is useful especially when medical costs at hospitals for daily cures such as feeding, bathing and clothing etc. can easily run NT$30,000 (USD$1,000) a month. While in the West it is more common for families to put their loved ones in a nursing home, this is largely considered a taboo in Taiwanese culture. Therefore, DHWs are being hired in order to take care of Taiwan’s increasingly elderly population (persons 65 years old and over), which now makes. 政治大. about 10% of Taiwan’s overall population and is one of the highest percentages in the world.. 立. More so, for Taiwanese to engage in work that migrant workers primarily do,. ‧ 國. 學. whether it is as a DHW or a factory worker is seen as low class work and therefore, a loss of face. The demand for maids is getting higher and is met by people of other. ‧. nationalities who come from less fortunate economic backgrounds, particularly Filipinos. Moreover, family business owners are also looking for assistance in double. y. Nat. sit. shifts in order to develop their business. I have seen DHWs in cram schools working. al. er. io. all day and then at night preparing food, cleaning, and running errands. The same. n. goes for in restaurants, where all of these activities are illegal. These tasks though are. Ch. i Un. v. usually illegal work and are often a conscious decision by the employer. Nine out of. engchi. ten migrant workers that I interviewed are subjected to pretty much any task assigned to them by the employer as long as the act wouldn’t be considered illegal if a Taiwanese did it. But this is despite the fact that anything DHWs are doing outside of their written contract is technically illegal. In this type of setting, where the employer and employee are almost inseparable due to living with each other, the workers are at the employer’s command any time of the day and this is causing distress on the employees. More importantly, the guidelines that are given to employers from broker agencies as to how they can treat their DHWs are ambiguous. The following chapter will explain how this phenomenon of 24 on-call DHWs came about as part of government policy and how it is causing workers to flee from their employers.. 16.

(18) CHAPTER II MAID IN TAIWAN Many DHWs, both runaway and non-runaway, told me that their jobs were very stressful and that they had to do whatever tasks were assigned to them. Some of the DHWs could cope with their working conditions better than others. Viki, who is in her late 30s and from Cebu, eastern Philippines, said she came to Taiwan to earn money. She has a baby and couldn’t find work in the Philippines. She said she knew there are other countries that follow the 8-hour a day work schedule but the salaries there are lower and she needs more money. She also has seen other opportunities for work both with other employers as well as illegal acts such as working at a massage parlor, but didn’t want to change otherwise she would have to. 政治大. pay a lot of much money (referring to the brokerage fees).. 立. Viki use to take care of an 84-year-old woman but she passed away. I met her. ‧ 國. 學. while she was staying at the Ugnayan Center in central Taipei until she got transferred to another employer. She was there because she had 9 months left on her contract and. ‧. it was hard to find another employer because no one wanted to hire a worker for such a short time. She was worried that unless she finds another employer she would have. sit. y. Nat. to go back to the Philippines or stay in Taiwan and do “other things”. Viki acknowledged that according to law, a caretaker is supposed to take care. io. n. al. er. of only one person, but for her it didn’t turn out that way. She said she had to do other. Ch. i Un. v. work such as clean the house, wash clothes, cook, etc. She also use to work in. engchi. Hualien taking care of 3 families during the day and then working at one of the family’s hot pot restaurants at night preparing food and washing dishes. Viki emphasized that she didn’t get off work until 3-4a.m. every night and then had to wake up by 8a.m. the next day to start the process again. She said she always felt very tired and felt like she was going to pass out from exhaustion. For Viki, she said her employers were kind people but “work wise” not so much. She stayed at their house for seven months and it drained her. She said she thinks the reason why DHWs work so many hours is because of the brokers. “I think the brokers communicate to the employers that it is okay for us to work long hours. My contract said that there would be 9 members in the family and that I had responsibilities such as cooking and cleaning, but it didn’t stipulate the working hours or that I would be working in a restaurant as well. I didn’t get any extra pay for any of this. I. 17.

(19) asked my employer to give me a day off. If they did that then I would just sleep the whole day, but they wouldn’t give it to me.” 8. Viki later said she called MECO and they told her to contact the labor affairs bureau in Hualien. She said she reported her case and they picked her up and brought her to Taipei. However, she found out that her original employer stated on her contract that they were not the employer she was working for. As a result she couldn’t ask the labor affairs bureau to get in contact with the employer because she knew they would deny that she worked for them. Another time I went to the center, I spoke with a runaway DHW named Cathy, who is in her mid 30s and from just outside of Manila. Her previous employer was located in Chiayi, central Taiwan. She elaborated that her relationship with her. 政治大. employer was one of abuse, more physically then mentally. “He was a strong man and use to throw things at my head. I always cried and eventually I told my agency that. 立. I wanted to transfer to another employer but they said there wasn’t a way unless I go back to the Philippines. But I had so. ‧ 國. 學. many loans to pay so it wasn’t an option. My employer was also constantly shouting at me even though I would wash their clothes and sheets so hard. The employer had me working from 6am to 10pm with only a half an hour break in. ‧. between and I became so thin, so I sought refuge in this center.” 9. sit. y. Nat. Another woman I met named Josephine who is also from the outskirts of Manila, told me about her struggles as well. Josephine came to Taiwan because she. io. n. al. er. was financially unstable. She used to work as a nurse in the Philippines but the pay. i Un. v. was too low. She felt that the situation in the Philippines for her was much worse even. Ch. engchi. though she rarely has free time in Taiwan. She asked the broker ahead of time about her job requirements, time off and pay etc., but when she reached Taiwan they were all different aside from the pay. Her first employer wouldn’t let her open her own bank account and she had to control all of Josephine’s money. The employer also didn’t let her wash her clothes with the family washing machine and was very obsessed with how she hung clothes. The employer only gave her leftovers instead of fresh food for meals, so she began to feel desperate to go back home. Josephine also said the employer’s son used to treat her indifferently. He didn’t have to work much and often stayed at home and drank wine. In the employer’s house Josephine had to sleep in the living room. One night the son came to her side 8 9. Interview with Viki at the Ugnayan Center, a Filipino cultural and refuge center in Taipei Interview with Cathy, also at the Ugnayan Center 18.

(20) and took her blanket off her. She put it back and then he took it off again and lay next to her. She said he later tried to advance on her but she refused him; this happened to Josephine several times. She told the employer and he spoke with his son but she still felt afraid every night. She said she tried to cope with it all but she couldn’t take it anymore. The employer told her not to worry about the son and that it was no big deal, but she still saw certain tendencies from him and constantly felt uncomfortable to the point where she couldn’t sleep. So, she contacted the CLA hotline for helping foreign workers in Taiwan and made headway for the Ugnayan Center as well. Josephine later said that she thinks Taiwanese look at migrant workers as if they are very low and that Taiwanese also like to do lots of psychological things to us (such as the washing machine incident etc.). She says she would like to see this. 政治大. improved in Taiwan and that overall, Taiwanese were not bad people, but rather, misinformed as to how to treat migrant workers, especially DHWs. She said she. 立. relates these informalities to brokers and their communication with employers. 10. ‧ 國. 學. Some employers, who do not want to be mentioned, said they have had issues with their workers and have got into fights because the worker wasn’t obedient. ‧. enough. One employer said that his DHW was lazy and didn’t like to work until she was told till. This angered the boss and caused a lot of arguments, some of which. y. Nat. sit. were physical. When asked how long the boss worked his employee, he responded. al. er. io. “for about 10 hours a day.” He also said that because the DHW was often not busy. n. during the day that he made her make up those hours later in the evening.. Ch. i Un. v. Another employer said that he didn’t deal with runaways but that he had some. engchi. issues with various workers as well. He said that the relationship between his employee and himself was pretty good. He also said that in the Philippines, it is not easy to find work and so the salary is quite low so he can understand why Filipinos would come to Taiwan for work. However, this employer said perhaps it’s because he is a Buddhist that he chooses to treat his employee kindly, just like the way he would want to be treated if he were to work abroad despite there being cultural differences. “Sometimes there were difficulties between the employee and myself. There were cultural differences such as coping with the employee’s need to go to Church on Sundays since most of them are Catholic. There were also language barriers. I think that the younger generations of Filipinos have poorer English than the older ones and it was difficult to communicate with them.. 10. Interview with Josephine, also at the Ugnayan Center 19.

(21) I often asked them if they understood what I was saying and they would nod their head in approval, but in the end they really didn’t understand. I also let my employee take one day off a week, which is on Sunday. I care about their safety and keep track of where they go because I think that is my responsibility as an employer. There are a lot of runaways in Taiwan, so I don’t let them take their ID with them, only a photocopy. Also, I pay extra close attention when their contract is about to expire cause that’s when workers are known to flee the most.” 11. The employer also paid attention to the worker’s personal habits. He said he worries about his worker not having any money. The employer has met a lot of Filipinos and feels like they don’t know how to manage their money well and is concerned about them especially when it’s time for them to go back home. During the interview, he posed the question-what would they (Filipino DHWs) do when they go. 政治大. back with no money? The employer said if Filipinos see something and it is expensive, they will only think of having it and not consider the financial consequences, so much. 立. that they will even borrow money from other people.. ‧ 國. 學. The employer also said that he’s heard many cases of abuse in Taiwan. He said as an employer, he doesn’t think of his employees as being any less than him. He. ‧. treats them as if they are his friends and tries to “speak reason” with them. He also lets his worker interact with family members not living in his household. The. Nat. sit. y. employer thinks it’s good because they can practice their English with the worker.. al. er. io. The only surprising thing the family members of the employer feel about the worker. n. is why their skin is so dark. But nonetheless, he thinks it’s important to respect the. Ch. i Un. v. workers like he would want to be respected if he had to go abroad and work. More so,. engchi. he feels the Taiwanese government along with various brokers has done a pretty good job so far introducing how the employer and employee should treat each other because there is plenty of information related to that online. There are also more rights for workers in Taiwan now compared to before, so he thinks the laws in Taiwan have improved. What interested me the most about this employer’s comments was how he controlled the employee’s funds and spending habits. A lot of the runaways interviewed alluded to how they felt they were being controlled too much and didn’t have access to basic freedoms such as their own money. Employers feel that they need to take the role of a babysitter with their DHWs to ensure that they won’t run 11. Interview with a Taiwanese employer named Charlie at a Buddhist center in central Taipei 20.

(22) away. But what’s interesting is that the DHWs who ran away usually came from employers who treated them as such. When I interviewed other DHWs who said they get along with their employers, they almost inevitably talked about the mutual trust and respect they have towards each other. No payments were hidden from the DHWs and the employees said they were comfortable enough to stay with their current employer in order to secure their well being in Taiwan. Another employer, who is female, aged in her late 50s and runs an art gallery, commented on her experiences with DHWs and how Taiwanese view migrant workers in Taiwan. “I have been hiring Filipino DHWs for over 10 years. I prefer them over Vietnamese and Indonesians because I feel they are less likely to run away. I also think Filipinos are trained better before they come to Taiwan compared to other nationalities.. 政治大. In Taiwan, people have good hearts and are not looking to abuse their employees. From what I know, most DHWs. 立. runaway as a result of lack of rest but there are also many other reasons as well. But for me, I treat my DHW as a family member. ‧ 國. 學. because I think there needs to be mutual respect between the employer and employee. If you want good results from your worker and you want them to be honest with you, then you need to treat them the same way.. ‧. Also, people shouldn’t think of DHWs as being all bad or causing trouble. Sure there are some that do cause trouble but that doesn’t mean that all of them do. Think of a family that has several children. With those children there is bound to be at. Nat. sit. y. least one that is a troublemaker. But this doesn’t mean that we have to treat the rest of the family as being troublemakers. But. io. al. er. why do some employers say that you can’t be too nice to a DHW? If an employer lets them do whatever DHWs want, then they. n. run the risk of the employee being too willful, so there needs to be discipline with the employee just like any other work setting.” 12. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. The director at MECO also elaborated as to why workers runaway and how the organization arranges for its workers to go back to the Philippines. “Generally if you compare the situation of Filipino workers with the other sending countries we are having fewer problems with runaway workers. But when you ask people who have been involved with this probably usually the answer is economic in nature, particularly because the opportunity for workers in Taiwan is rather limited. When workers have economic obligations in the home country and they have not saved enough money to meet those obligations, some workers are tempted to overstay so that they can earn much more. Occasionally, when workers face cases of abuse they are tempted to run away from such cruelty, although this is not often the case in Taiwan compared to other places.. 12. Interview with an employer who prefers to be referred to as anonymous at a different Buddhist temple in central Taipei. 21.

(23) Cultural misunderstandings or language barriers can be a source of irritation and are reasons why there are cases of abuse. In Taiwan the national language is Chinese Mandarin and Taiwanese people are usually not English speaking people. And normally in situations where Filipinos are doing care giving, many of the employers are old and sick and can be quite irritable, so sometimes these are the problems that create tension between the employer and the worker. Workers come to MECO when they want to go home already or when they are already tired of their undocumented or illegal status. Sometimes they are sickly and sometimes the options they meet are not that rewarding, so then they realize that the more rational option for them is to return home. We then go through our assistance rational unit to help them surrender to immigration authorities so that they can go back home as soon as possible.” 13. The difference in opinion between employers is of course due to each employer’s personal experience and understanding with workers. However, what. 政治大. distinguish the runaways from the non-runaways are the guidelines by which their. 立. employers treat them. If a DHW is fortunate to have an employer that treats them. ‧ 國. 學. fairly, then in most cases she is satisfied with her living conditions and does not choose to run away. However, for the employers that treat their DHWs irrationally,. ‧. there are almost no consequences other than expire a contract with their worker. For a DHW coming to Taiwan, they gamble on their lives and are not guaranteed they will. Nat. sit. y. be treated humanely. Within other work professions, of course not all employees will. io. er. be satisfied with their boss, but they will be guaranteed rights because there is a standard of law and regulations. Taiwanese employers in other sectors dare not. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. question these rights because they are aware of the judiciary ramifications. Likewise,. engchi. if there was a standard set by the Taiwanese government as well a means for it to be monitored and implemented efficacy, employers would be less likely to treat their employees by means such as described in the above examples. Out of all the runaways I visited, 9 out of 10 were working in places outside of Taipei City (see Table 16). Most of the employers who were abusive either physically or verbally came from more rural areas in Taiwan, which are also places that tend to be more traditional like in their value system. Some people in Taipei that I interviewed about this topic say that in Taipei people are more educated and civilized than those in the south or in less developed areas in Taiwan. But as for Taipei, the. 13. Second interview with the director of MECO in July, 2011 22.

(24) runaway cases all came from instances with elder generations such as the grandma (ama) and grandpa (a-gong) in the family. There has also been a case of abuse by a Taiwanese official living abroad. Liu Hsien-hsien, director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Kansas City, Missouri, was arrested for allegedly treating her Filipino housekeeper like a slave, according to newspapers in late 2011. US prosecutors said Liu took away her worker’s passport, told her she was not allowed to leave the house without permission, made her work 16 to 18 hour days at a quarter of the agreed wages, monitored her with video surveillance cameras and "restricted when she could sleep." Liu also allegedly told the woman that if she "acted out, she would be deported" because Liu was "friends with local law enforcement and known well in the community".. 政治大. The woman eventually escaped after seeking help from a Filipino man she met at the grocery store, however. It was said to have been at least the second time Liu. 立. had mistreated a housekeeper, prosecutors allege. The previous housekeeper "went. ‧ 國. 學. into a state of depression and stopped eating" as a result of the physical and verbal abuse, according to a testimony by an unnamed witness who works as a director at the. ‧. Kansas City office. The affidavit cited cooperating witness two (CW-2), employed as a director at TECO for about one year, as saying that Liu instructed CW-2 to pay her. Nat. sit. y. domestic servant US$225 when “Liu knew that F.V. was supposed to be paid. al. er. io. [US]$1,240 per month.” “CW-2 stated that Liu also paid her prior maid before F.V.. n. much less than she was contracted to be paid as well. CW-2 said the discrepancy was. Ch. i Un. v. very similar to how much F.V. was being shorted on salary.. engchi. Liu also acknowledged under oath that her actions related to the housekeepers were not related to her official government position, which may have qualified her for some diplomatic immunity. Because the United States does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state, Liu was not granted diplomatic immunity. Liu as a result had to paid $80,044.62 in restitution to that housekeeper and a former housekeeper, who she also admitted underpaying. As of late January 2012, a US judge has sentenced a Taiwanese diplomat to deportation and time served for underpaying and overworking two housekeepers. Liu's case sparked a row between Taiwan and the United States. Taiwan argued that Liu should be granted diplomatic immunity, while the US said Liu has immunity only for acts performed within the scope of her authorized. 23.

(25) functions. In early 2012, US District Judge David Gregory ordered Liu to repay her incarceration costs and fund her own travel back to Taiwan. 14 Even as a government representative, there are still employers mistreating their DHWs. Liu was able to get the employee overseas on false-pretenses and admits that she was never going to comply with the terms listed in the contract given to the employee. The brokerage fees and other expenses attached to DHWs having to go through brokers still existed and were used against the employee’s will. Luckily though, the DHW was able to seek assistance and international law was used to solve the issue. Within the many discussions I had with Taiwanese about DHWs, a constant question has been raised as to whether DHWs would flee from their employers if they. 政治大. had an opportunity to make more money elsewhere such as within a karaoke lounge or massage parlor. Based on the interviews I conducted, all of the DHWs said they. 立. value stability and doing things legally much more than having to flee and risk the. ‧ 國. 學. safety and instability of their lives; this is especially true with workers who have good relationships with their employers. In general, if a worker within a given sector has an. ‧. opportunity to make more money elsewhere they will take it and it is their right to do so. But while making more money at other places is inviting, all the DHWs that I. Nat. sit. y. interviewed who weren’t runaways said that if their employer treats them well then it. al. er. io. is not worth the risk to run away. Many migrant workers said they have families back. n. in the Philippines and that they need a steady income in order to send money back. Ch. i Un. v. either for their child’s education or in order to take care of their parents.. engchi. What happens if workers flee and are caught?. If workers overstay then they have to pay a NT$10,000 fine and are also required to show their transportation costs going back home. Normally immigration requires an authority request MECO to facilitate the retrieval of their passports or if they don’t have passports then MECO helps the worker obtain the necessary travel documents so they can go back properly documented. The consequences though of doing an illegal act in a host country most likely will result in the prohibition of going back to that country in the future. 14. Liu was arrested on November 10, 2011 and was found guilty in late January 2012. 24.

(26) CHAPTER III I HAVE IT MAID IN TAIWAN The rising number of runaway foreign workers, which is now at around 31,000, could create problems since undocumented workers have no protection when their rights are not respected and they have no health or labor insurance (see tables 7 and 8). Workers are being overworked and there is no protection for them. They are also in the position of getting hired illegally, most likely for a job that they are not qualified for, which may potentially harm their lives as well as drive wages down in Taiwanese labor market. Workers run away for a number of reasons. First of all, when migrant workers come to Taiwan they have to pay a placement fee ranging from NT$70,000 to. 政治大. 110,000 (US$2121 to 3333), which is higher than anywhere else in Asia. 15 While. 立. Taiwan has become one of the most attractive destinations for migrant workers due to. ‧ 國. 學. its relatively high salaries, the opportunity to work in Taiwan is relatively scarce for foreign applicants due to quota controls. Brokers are thus able to appropriate a. ‧. significant share of “scarcity rent” in the process of recruiting and placing workers. High placement fees come about as a result from a supply-demand imbalance in. sit. y. Nat. Taiwan's migrant labor market.. io. er. Due to high brokerage fees, Filipinos need to work for at least a year to get out of debt, another year to start to break even and earn income, followed by at least. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. another year to make the overall experience profitable. Up until 2012, Taiwan had a. engchi. law stating migrant workers can't change employers without going through another broker, which would mean the same brokerage fee would have to be paid again. As of 2012 this law has been changed but most workers are not aware of it according to my interviews with DHWs. Therefore, in order to reduce the risk of being fired and avoid an enormous amount of debt, workers refrain from speaking out if they encounter a problem with their employer and don’t dare change employers. If workers protest or argue about their working conditions, they are often at the risk of being repatriated and are still left with their brokerage fees. But since virtually all the DHWs are in Taiwan due to lack of work in the Philippines, they feel helpless. All of the runaway DHWs that I interviewed told me this is why they put up with their employers for as long as they did before they couldn’t take it anymore and fled. 15. According to an interview with a manpower agency in the Philippines 25.

(27) Because of this policy in Taiwan, migrant workers essentially become exchanged as commodities free-floating in the global market but are placed in a socially isolated and legally bonded position in host societies. Migrant workers haven’t been able to circulate in the labor market until 2011, whereas foreigners in the whitecollar sector have always had that right. The government dictates that a migrant worker can work for only one particular employer during his or her stay in Taiwan. No transfer of employer is allowed except for the following three conditions: First, if the original employer goes bankrupt and cannot pay wages to the worker for two months; second, if the care recipient of a migrant worker dies or migrates to another country; third, if a worker can prove that he or she was physically abused by the original employer (Chao 1992).. 政治大. Taiwan's government also places migrant workers in their employer’s custody as a way of externalizing management costs. Each employer is requested to deposit a. 立. sum equivalent to the migrant worker's two month salary as an “assurance bond” and. ‧ 國. 學. to pay a monthly “employment stabilization fee,” which varies from NT$700 to 2,000 (US$23-60). The fee is designed to subsidize government expenses in managing. ‧. migrant workers and retaining local workers. If a migrant worker runs away, his or her employer is still obligated to pay an “employment stabilization fee” every month. y. Nat. sit. until the worker is caught or the contract expires. Another more serious punishment to. al. er. io. the employer is that the quota associated with the runaway worker is temporarily. n. frozen, so that the employer is not able to hire a replacement during this period. In. Ch. i Un. v. other words, the employer suffers not only the loss of labor power once provided by. engchi. the runaway worker, but also the loss of a more precious commodity, the quota, and the capacity of replenishing migrant labor. These policy measures have organizational consequences on the practice of the brokerage market and daily labor control carried out by employers. Taiwan’s government has been very active in allowing recruiting agencies hire migrant workers. The direct involvement of governments in the promotion of international migration is a major feature of the Asian system that distinguishes it from migration systems in North America or Western Europe. Taiwan’s government has played an active role channeling the import of migrant labor as a profitable commodity and there has been lack of regard towards the rights of workers. The Taiwanese government has been promoting migrant workers to come to Taiwan, but not active in ensuring that they have basic rights as well as providing incentives such 26.

(28) as increased salary and a reduction of brokerage fees for workers to stay with their employers both legally and faithfully. During an interview I had with the director at MECO, he told me that the quota system in Taiwan doesn’t mean that a particular broker is given a certain number of workers to recruit. The quota refers to the proportion of the workers that a company can hire and that policy is adapted by Taiwan in order to protect the employment of its nationals. He said that the difficulty at MECO, however, is when foreign workers are told that a certain company has exceeded its quota because some local workers have decided to retire or resign from their jobs and the foreign workers are asked to leave Taiwan because the company has already violated the quota prohibition. The director said, however, that the foreign workers are not at fault in that. 政治大. situation and that as of now the Taiwanese government allow those workers to transfer to other employers when they are not the ones at fault. 16. 立. MECO does make a good point on the issue of quotas. However, there are. ‧ 國. 學. currently up to 600 licensed brokers competing to do business with a limited number of employers possessing quotas. The figure doesn't include unlicensed companies or. ‧. individuals, which some scholars say account for about 15% of the market. There are more brokerage services than employers want to buy (and so the prices to employers. y. Nat. sit. go down), while there are fewer brokerage services than workers want to buy (and so. al. er. io. the prices to workers go up).. n. The reason why a broker is willing to pay the kickback is because he or she. Ch. i Un. v. can still appropriate significant profits from placement fees charged to migrant. engchi. workers through the process of “converting the job orders into money.” Playing the intermediate role in the migration chain, brokers “buy” job orders from employers at the costs of the “kickback”, and then sell these job orders to applicants in sending countries at the price of exorbitant placement fees, through the mediation of foreign agencies. Also, many Taiwanese brokers have bought out Filipino agencies to minimize transaction costs, an economizing strategy of internalizing market into firm hierarchy (Williamson 1981). Due to the fact that the Philippines government still outlaws foreign-own agencies, most Taiwanese brokers only purchased the rights of management while registered under the name of Filipino workers.. 16. Ibid 27.

(29) The Taiwanese government should not allow brokers to charge migrant workers placement fees, nor should service fees be deducted from workers’ salaries. Foreigners who work in the white-collar sector in Taiwan are allowed to work at organizations based on their qualifications and if those meet Taiwanese companies needs, they do not need to pay any fees in order to try out a job in Taiwan. Whitecollar workers are assessed based on their education and skills and it is up to the employer whether or not they want to take a risk with hiring a particular employee; such should be the case for blue-collar workers as well. There needs to be an intermediary for Taiwanese to go through for hiring Filipinos especially since there are language and cultural barriers to deal with. Brokers can play that role, but they should only have the rights to charge Taiwanese. 政治大. for their services in finding them an appropriate foreign worker. This is a more ethical form of consulting and it eliminates the burden migrant workers have to bear when. 立. coming to Taiwan. White-collar foreign workers in Taiwan make at least 3 times. ‧ 國. 學. minimum and usually 5-7 times the amount of money blue-collar ones do and don’t have to pay any brokerage fees. Because of this, the government has exacerbated the. ‧. reason for Filipinos to run away and find illegal work.. In addition to placement fees, some Philippine agencies or Taiwanese brokers. y. Nat. sit. also extract profits from workers through mandatory purchases, such as hats or jackets. al. er. io. with the company logo (so workers can be easily recognized while being picked up in. n. the airport), books or tapes for Mandarin instruction, or nursing uniforms. Workers. Ch. i Un. v. usually pay the down payment to their agencies in their home countries, and Taiwan's. engchi. brokers collect their share through monthly deduction from workers' salaries. These practices undoubtedly violate the Taiwanese government regulation, according to which placement fees collected from workers should not exceed NT$7,000 ($US240). Some brokers eve requested workers to sign a receipt before their departure to Taiwan, so as to disguise salary deductions as money the worker borrowed. While paying, workers are usually told by agencies or brokers that the job offers in Taiwan would be valid for three years and that they have the possibility of extending their contracts to nine years. Those who fail to extend their contract after one year rarely get refunds from the placement fees they paid (Cheng 2001). Overall, the quota system only allows migrant workers to be numbers in a system that has too many loopholes and outside factors. The employment of migrant workers reduces costs for employers not only through their lower wages, but also 28.

(30) through their powerlessness in the organization of labor process, associated with their foreigner status and lack of citizenship (Sassen 1988). Migrant domestic workers are marginalized by a series of political and legal regulations based on the principal of territorial sovereignty, as well as by their status of personal subordination to contract employers. In fact, as of 2008 Taiwan’s government has changed the law restricting workers to be hired directly by employers. However, it is not known amongst any of the interviewees and the government still holds employers responsible for monitoring the whereabouts of their foreign employees. Such policy has exacerbated distrust and surveillance in private households but offers no solution to the problem. To improve the human rights of migrant workers as well as the quality of care for the wards, the host state should “de-marginalize” the position of migrant domestic. 政治大. workers. Migrant workers should be allowed to transfer employers on mutual consent, so employment relationships would be based on reciprocal exchanges rather than. 立. personal slavery. So far the Labor Standards Law in Taiwan has not yet covered the. ‧ 國. 學. protection of domestic workers in this regard. As of 2011 the law has stated that workers can find their own employer but only after their contract is finished or if. ‧. conditions mentioned previously mentioned occur. Such exclusion ignores the facts that private households have become a field of employment and management, and. y. Nat. sit. domestic workers are subject to the most intensive surveillance among all migrant. er. al. n. is a concern.. io. workers. Quality care can only be achieved when the quality of life for care workers. Ch. i Un. v. In Taiwan, the state determines how migrant workers are allocated and. engchi. incorporated into specific sites in the relations of production and the organization of the labor process. Economic exploitation of migrant workers by private agencies is exacerbated by government regulations; employers are encouraged by the state to carry out personal control over migrants on a daily basis. Migrant workers are not eligible to apply for permanent residence or naturalized citizenship. Luckily though, if workers do get pregnant they will not be required to either leave Taiwan or have an abortion, as was required in past laws. A quota system has been developed by the CLA with the aim of controlling the quantity of migrant workers and their distribution in selected occupations and industries. Based on investigations into an alleged labor shortage, the CLA determines the size of quotas, selects the industries or occupations that may enjoy quotas, and releases the quotas on an irregular basis. This quota system brings about an interesting 29.

(31) liaison among the state, employers, and brokers. First, the procedures of releasing quotas and granting admissions have provided a breeding ground for bribery and corruption. The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) has uncovered several scandals where employers mobilized political networks to strive for quotas, or brokers paid off CLA officials to speed up the bureaucratic procedures of granting admission. 17 Second, quotas have become profitable commodities in such a highly regulated market for migrant workers. Trade associations and a small group of employers who possess the privileges of distributing or monopolizing the limited number of quotas, can make extra profits by selling the quotas to other employers. However, there are no limits, that is, number wise, to the amount of whitecollar foreign workers allowed in Taiwan. They are part of supply and demand just. 政治大. like any other worker in the world that is under a “free capitalist society”. If the demand of low cost labor is needed in Taiwan then it should be allowed to flow freely. 立. in the hands of the citizens and their entrepreneurships; not by the manipulation of. ‧ 國. 學. broker agencies. By having the government step in and fix these issues and to promote training centers that effectively train both employers and employees from. ‧. Taiwan and other Asian nations respectively, Taiwan can increase its human rights record as well as improve its international image; most importantly, many reasons that. y. Nat. sit. exacerbate the need for workers to run will be decreased.. al. er. io. Another problem for migrant workers in Taiwan is that the description of their. n. jobs is very blurred. DHWs are hired under the pretense that they will be taking care. Ch. i Un. v. of a family member, who in most cases an elderly person who is ill, or will act as a. engchi. maid doing household chores such as cleaning and cooking. However, out of every runaway that I interviewed, all of them had to do all of those responsibilities and in a lot of cases, even more. Within half of that number, some had to also act as an English teacher for the kid(s) of the employer’s family as well as run any errands or side businesses that the family may have on top of taking care of an elderly family member. On average, this caused workers to be working from 7-8:00a.m. until 10:00p.m. while some even had to work well past midnight. To me, this sounded absurd so I decided to look into it more. This caused me to want to go to Manila, the capital of the Philippines in early 2011. I went to two recruitment sites that work with. 17. Several scandals in all of AIT’s annual human rights report 30.

(32) Taiwanese brokers to set up Filipino workers with Taiwanese employers to find out what the brokers tell the people they hire and how they prepare the workers. Both of the places I went to were really difficult to find, almost as if they didn’t want anyone to find them. Upon arrival to both sites, I was stared at in bewilderment. As I explained who I was and why I was there, there was a deep sense of suspicion. My identification documents were checked over several times and I had to convince the staff members to let me interview them before they felt comfortable enough to let me stay despite them claiming that their organizations were legal. Both sites did divulge to me that I was the first Caucasian to have visited their centers though, so perhaps they were just not use to such an occurrence. I told them that from my interviews I had conducted with Filipino DHWs that. 政治大. 9 out of 10 had complained about having to do heavy workloads as well as many assigned chores outside of their contracts. After hearing this, brokers at both agencies. 立. stared at me for a while and were hesitant to reveal information. As I explained to. ‧ 國. 學. them that I wasn’t some undercover spy looking to bankrupt their company, they later gained confidence in me and began talking. At one of the brokerages, one person gave. ‧. me a copy of the contract that a DHW had to sign as well as an outline of the actual responsibilities that DHW were going to have to do. The differences were astounding.. Nat. sit. y. The broker gave me an “employer condition requirements outline” (see table 9) that. al. er. io. listed all the responsibilities that this particular employer wanted from her DHW.. n. Those included primarily tasks for taking care of an elder person such as assisting. Ch. i Un. v. with bathing and exercising, but also included teaching English to two kids in the. engchi. family, food purchase (mistranslated as “marketing”), cleaning, as well as “other tasks”. After seeing the document, it became clear to me that the definition of a DHW was a super woman of some sorts and that her tasks were a conglomeration of any task that an employer asked for. The outline was completely different than an actual full contract that states all responsibilities clearly (see tables 10-15). Within the contract, it is stated very clearly what the worker’s obligation are, which should only involve one major task such as taking care of a sick patient, and vacation time as well as salary is listed as well. Unfortunately though, workers who have run away had employers who didn’t follow any of those stipulations; even workers who at least had a day off occasionally said that their tasks were always 2-3 times the amount stated in the contract.. 31.

(33) Taiwanese employers revealed to me that their brokers said that DHWs were able to perform any household task that was assigned to them and that they had no idea that using the DHW for multiple tasks was considered illegal. Lack of regulation on brokers from the government is a major problem on this issue. The combination of brokers having too much freedom to manipulate the responsibilities of domestic workers as well as a lack of government responsibility to inform citizens on what is legally acceptable for DHWs has resulted in a lack of standard for a good portion of Taiwan’s foreign workforce. The government has not stepped in sufficiently to set standards and laws to adequately and fairly treat migrant workers. This has lead many employers to feel that they have absolute power over their employees and many cases of mistreatment have been reported, thus causing thousands of workers to flee in. 政治大. Taiwan every year. Each one of them has a unique story.. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 32. i Un. v.