Labor

Report Details Continued Abuses in Taiwan’s Fishing Industry

A report by Greenpeace released last week suggests that human rights abuses in Taiwan’s fishing industry continue to take place, with little change having occurred in spite of criticisms in past years from Greenpeace and other environmental and labor NGOs. Taiwan has over 20,000 migrant workers that work on deepwater fishing vessels and one-third of tuna catches in the world come from Taiwanese vessels...

Detention of Well-Known Chinese Labor Activist Points to a Larger Pattern

The detention of young Chinese labor activist Chen Wei-xiang proves the latest incident of the detention of social activists by the Chinese government. Chen's detention points to a larger pattern, not only regarding actions by the Chinese government against labor activists, but against activists that run news platforms aimed at spreading information about protests or political dissent...

Ministry of Labor’s Refusal to Abolish Migrant Labor Broker System Illustrates Deference to the Free Market

The latest round of protests against the exploitative migrant labor brokerage system saw hundreds of people demonstrating outside the Indonesian, Filipino, and Vietnamese representative offices in Taipei in early November. Yet the Taiwanese Ministry of Labor responded to the protests by washing its hands of any responsibility for upholding this predatory system of labor brokerage. The Ministry of Labor's deference to the free market is consistent with the government’s goal of treating Southeast Asian migrant workers employed through the guest worker program as cheap and disciplined labor power...