Migrant workers’ unity is all workers’ unity: 

An interview with Lennon Wong of Serve the People Association in Taiwan

Cheonghee Yu, KILSH activist

Korea Institute of Labor Safety and Health

Millions of workers migrate to work in different countries in Asia. They do the most dangerous work under the worst working conditions, treatment and wages. The ANROEV 2023 Congress also highlighted the labor and health rights of migrant workers.

During the discussions at the Congress, one activist stressed the importance of organizing migrant workers, saying that migrant workers bear the brunt of workplace accidents in Asia. After listening to his speech, I was curious about his activities and interviewed him online after the Congress. We spoke to Lennon Wong, who is in charge of organizing and responding to migrant workers’ issues at Serve the People Association (桃園市群眾服務協會, SPA), a non-profit labor civil society organization founded in 2008 in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, to find out why migrant workers’ labor should be taken seriously and why it is important to organize them into trade unions. 

Migrant workers in poor and discriminatory workplaces

SPA initially focused on Taiwanese workers, but has since expanded its activities to support migrant workers in labor disputes and union organizing. Lennon Wong used to be active in a trade union before joining SPA.

Similar to South Korea, Taiwan began using migrant workers to alleviate labor shortages in industries where locals were unwilling to work. They are only allowed to work in certain industries and occupations where they do not compete with local workers. In 2020, there were about 720,000 migrant workers in Taiwan, with 61 per cent working in manufacturing, 36.6 per cent in services, and 1.7 per cent in agriculture, forestry, fishing and animal husbandry.

“SPA has been running shelters for migrant workers since 2014. The organization now has three shelters and a 24-hour hotline for migrant workers.”

“Migrant workers come to SPA for labor cases, legal assistance, and for assistance in changing jobs. In principle, it is not possible for migrant workers to change jobs. They can only be transferred in cases of gender-based violence, labor exploitation or human trafficking with the mutual consent of the employer and the employee. Migrant workers can stay in a shelter until they report a workplace for human and labor rights violations to the Ministry of Labor. If the Ministry approves the report, then organizations like SPA help them move the workplace by collecting evidence. Most migrant workers come to Taiwan through brokers, and they have to pay the broker to change their job. So, when SPA helps them, brokers do not like it, and they attack SPA.”

Migrant workers are likely to work in poor and dangerous areas.

“Migrant workers suffer from common health and safety problems. Three or four years ago, a Filipino woman was working with highly acidic materials, and the acid in a large container spilled on her and killed her. When I met the migrant workers in that factory and asked them if they knew they were supposed to wear protective clothing, they said, “We only have to wear it for inspections.””

“Domestic and care workers suffer greatly from overwork and lack of sleep. Some workers say they have aches and pains all over their bodies from taking care of the sick. There have been cases of cancer among migrant workers, especially caregivers. SPA does not know exactly what causes it, but the organization thinks it is because of their work.”

“Accidents are still recognized as work-related, but it is hard to get occupational diseases recognized work-related. Lennon Wong is also involved in activities to further expose the problems of occupational accidents among migrant workers and to raise awareness of hazardous work.”

The importance of organizing migrant workers

“SPA activists are mainly labor activists. One of our important goals is to organize migrant workers into unions, to help them organize themselves. Of course, organizing migrant workers is much more difficult than organizing local workers, partly because they cannot stay in Taiwan very long.”

“Also, according to Taiwanese law, if you have less than 100 members, you must have a general meeting every year with at least half of the members. This adds up to 30 to 40 meetings every year, which is not easy. For example, domestic workers are mostly caregivers who take care of the sick or the elderly, and they are not covered by the labor law, and they do not have legal leave. Sometimes the employer will not let them leave their job. Most of them come through brokers, and they have to pay a certain amount of money to the broker every month for more than a year, and if they work for more than three years or change jobs, the broker asks for money again. It is exploitation. So, it is hard for migrant workers to think of joining a union except to collect money.”

“But there are some migrant worker unions. There is a union of Taiwanese domestic workers, with about 100 Filipino workers, and 100 Indonesian workers, and SPA supports them. The organization also supports a manufacturing union of Indonesian workers.”

Why is migrant worker organizing important?

“Workers’ power comes from workers themselves and not from the people who support them. SPA thought that migrant workers could revive the stagnant Taiwanese labor movement, and that the movement could break the severe exploitation that migrant workers face. Taiwan is in a special supply chain in the global industrial structure, and there are many semiconductor companies. Many migrant workers are employed by semiconductor companies, so SPA thought it was strategically important.”

“SPA’s support for migrant workers will continue to be important, but we also hope that migrant workers themselves can build and join unions and increase their power so that they can increase their bargaining power and work in safe workplaces.”