NGOs call attention to brokers blocking migrant worker unionizing

Taipei, Aug. 12 (CNA) Migrant worker advocacy groups on Tuesday called on the Ministry of Labor (MOL) to provide a legal interpretation of the Labor Union Act after a broker was alleged to have intimidated migrant workers at a Taoyuan manufacturer attempting to join a union.

The groups made the demand at a rally outside the MOL as the ministry's Tribunal for Unfair Labor Practice and Arbitration Committee prepared to hold a second hearing on the Taoyuan case.

Wu Chia-ching (吳家慶), a consultant for the Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCTU), said that the TCTU recently received a complaint that migrant workers at the chemical manufacturer's Yangmei plant had been browbeaten into dropping out of a union.

The union last year began accepting migrant members due to dwindling numbers of new Taiwanese hires, and initially received more than 30 applications from Filipino and Indonesian workers, Wu said.

However, on the same day the union notified the manufacturer of their intention to join the union, one of the brokers managing migrant workers at the company sent a staffer to the union's office and tried unsuccessfully to seize more than 10 applications.

"The brokers said that they [migrant workers] have the 1955 hotline and brokers, which were enough. They claimed that they didn't want them to pay two fees," Wu said.

"In my experience working with migrant workers, they are very scared of being persecuted by manpower brokers," Wu said.

Wu said he once saw a staffer at a manpower broker "lynching" a migrant worker, hitting him so forcefully that he took several steps back.

"Do they have labor rights? No," he said.

After the incident, Wu said, 15 workers, mostly Indonesians, withdrew, and around 20 decided to stay.

Employers view migrant workers joining unions as a potential threat, especially if they are backed by other Taiwanese unions like the TCTU, Wu explained.

TCTU Secretary Tracy Sun (孫語謙) cited the Gender Equality in Employment Act, which stipulates that: "A person who represents an employer to exercise managerial authority or who represents an employer in dealing with employee matters is deemed to be an employer."

Past lawsuits involving sexual harassment of migrant workers have proved that courts recognize manpower brokers as employers' representatives, Sun said.

Sun urged the MOL to present a legal interpretation of Article 35 of the Labor Union Act to clearly define manpower brokers as employers' representatives, which would prevent similar incidents.

Other NGOs that joined the rally include Ganas Community and Taiwan International Workers' Association.

In response, MOL official Tsai Sheng-chieh (蔡勝傑) said the purpose of Article 35 of the Labor Union Act is to prevent employers or their representatives from using their advantageous positions to suppress labor unions, encroach on workers' right to be unionized and interfere with unions' operations.

The Labor Union Act protects workers' rights to be unionized, and employers must not block workers from joining unions or do so through any third-party personnel, Tsai said.

If the tribunal rules that the brokers' behavior contravened the article, the MOL will mete out a fine, Tsai said.