Who? You mean Mallard?
Not a gun, per se, but the situation back home is desperate. The brokers know this. They take full advantage of people with little option. The Filipinos I know do NOT go home with fistfulls of money for a ‘better life’. One is able to pay for her daughters education, but the rest are barely struggling to support their families while they are here. I have heard the number $180,000 before as well. When you make $15 000 a month on a three year contract, then $180 000 is an absurd figure.
I’d like to try to find ways around it. Mallard, how do you know using the brokers is not circumventable? Have the brokers arranged some deal with the agencies in charge of issuing visas and work permits? Anyone have any idea how to go about it? I am heading to immigration next week; it would be good to have some questions ready. I suppose the only way to find out if it would work would be to actually try, but that would be like playing roulette with someone’s livelihood. Not really my cup of tea. I’d like to have all the t’s crosssed and the i’s dotted before I actually tried to help somebody out. (I get requests now and then, but am at a loss as to how to go about it.)
You’re posing some important questions which I would also really like to know the answers to.
I recall some ten years ago, that efforts were being made to reduce the ‘labor fees’ with help coming largely from active clergy at St Christopher’s Church in Taipei, meaning … Philipino ‘petitioners’ were working behind the scene making the most headway as a national labor pool, if you will.
So far, I haven’t found much to reference the current feasibility for government-regulated reform, the main argument for maintaining the status quo apparently being related to the need for direct screening of all applicants in their home countries.
A bit off-topic, but relevant I think, anyway … the custom of paying an employer … to be ‘granted’ a postion … goes on in public service here and has historically for decades. The amount paid by one old-time now-retired friend who used to work at the local wine factory … to secure a place there … was something on the order od six months’ salary. Accounting for the enormous total amounts of money involved is, or was, all done … ‘under the table’.
One is left wondering … just whose table is it[?], and … how exactly is that kind of money ultimately dispensed[?].
I guess this would imply that the public sector has it’s own traditional reasons to resist serious reform viv-a-vis the ‘selling’ of jobs.
I read somewhere that it is common for the entire first year of work to be done for free to pay off the broker fee debt. However, the taiwan govt does have a site for direct rehiring without broker fees after the three year contract. Seems like there a numerous hoops though.
Hi guys, here are some information:
The Special Hiring Program for Filipino workers in Taiwan was established late last year:
(I can’t find information on how well this is being implemented.)
TECO/MECO has also ordered recruitment agencies to refund excessive placement fees. Supposedly, the placement fee should only be equivalent to one month’s wage (around 17K NT). But according to one account I read online:
[quote]bago kami umalis noon papuntang taiwan, 2 days before departure may pinapirma sa amin ang agency na parang di ka pwede magcomplain at inaacknowledge namin na one month salary ang binayad namin na placement fee…
translation: Two days before our flight to Taiwan, the agency made us sign a paper stating that we cannot file a complaint against them and that we acknowledge that we only paid the equivalent of one month’s salary as placement fee…
[/quote]
So getting the refund is very difficult, or even impossible.
MECO has also ordered brokers in Taiwan to stop taking “broker’s fee” from the worker’s montly wage but:
[quote]obligado parin silang magbigay ng broker’s fee personally na walang kapalit na receipt.
translation: the brokers are still obligating workers to pay the broker’s fee, now doing it in person and without giving workers a corresponding receipt.[/quote]
BTW, the broker’s fee is around 1,800NT/month.
PH and TW government officials are trying to do something about this problem, but brokers are still trying to scam the workers.
But why are there still workers? 17K NT is more than what some (or most) workers would earn back in the Philippines where the minimum wage is just around 6K NT. I can’t blame them if they still flock to Taiwan despite the exorbitant broker’s fee. Taiwan is close to home, safe and progressive. It’s an attractive enough job opportunity. Most of them borrow the money from the agencies like a “work now, pay later” scheme and the placement fee is taken out of their wages each month. And a lot of workers even go through the whole process again after their initial contract expires (they pay the placement fee again even if their returning to their old companies/jobs).
Sources:
recruiters.workabroad.ph/employe … ticleid=21 (Direct hiring program)
nwpc.dole.gov.ph/pages/ncr/cmwr_table.html (PH salary)
bbayani.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=asia (worker accounts in English/Filipino/Taglish)
Hope this helps!
Excellent reference. This is making a bit more sense, and there’s ovbiously no need for screening those who’ve already completed three-year contracts. That time limit might conceivably be lifted, but lowering the hurdles for some is a step in the right direction.
Thai friends coming near the end of their term in the past were perplexed over the choice between taking what they’d saved or basically giving the bulk of it back to the brokers almost as soon as they got home, in order to keep hold of their jobs … in many cases, so here we have something in the way of improvement.
Thank you!
[color=#4000BF]Spark of hope for … improved working conditions?[/color]
Re: Taipei Times 11/20/09
Group petitions Wu on conditions for domestic workers
Shelley Huang
taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003458958
[color=#4000BF]Members of the Taiwan International Workers Association (TIWA) yesterday petitioned Premier Wu Den-yih about domestic workers’ rights as Wu made his way into the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) offices in Taipei.
Wu and Vice Premier Eric Chu visited the council to hear various departmental briefings. However, on their way into the council building, they were stopped by labor representatives and workers from Vietnam, Indonesia and other countries.
HOUSEHOLD HELP
Dozens of protesters had been staging a demonstration in front of the CLA building for better working conditions for foreign workers hired as household help.
The protesters were originally blocked off from Wu in order to maintain a safe distance, but, Wu allowed them to come closer to voice their concerns.
A protester complained to Wu: “There are 200,000 workers in Taiwan with no entitlement to any time off. This turns Taiwan into a country with no human rights.”
Meanwhile, dozens of members of the association shouted in unison, “I want a break! I want a break!”
Wu accepted the association’s petition and told them that he has heard their pleas and would work with the council to come up with ways to deal with the problem.
DEFINITION
In response to the protest, the CLA said that because a “home” is not a place for making profits, it differs from the definition of a workplace or factory as defined in the Labor Standards Act.
The council also said because of the nature of their work, it is difficult to distinguish between time spent resting and being on stand-by.
However, the council said it values protection of home workers’ labor rights, and is in the process of drafting proposals for legislation specifically tailored for them. The proposal is scheduled for completion early next year. [/color]
[color=#BF0080]Give them a break … once a month or so … what the Hell?[/color]