workers in fishing industry in Taiwan

Civil Society Groups Call for Wi-fi for Migrant Fishermen

Brian Hioe
Civil society groups held a press conference in front of the Taipei Fish Market late last month to call for wi-fi access for migrant fishermen. Participant groups included the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Stella Maris Kaohsiung, Global Labor Justice - International Labor Rights Forum, the Humanity Research Consultancy, and Fospi Donggang Pingtung. Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih of the NPP was also present and DPP legislator Hung Sun-han was scheduled to attend but was later unable to make it. According to these groups, this press conference was more than half a year in planning...
EnglishLaborMarch 2023RaceSocial Movements4 min read

Efforts to Hire Fishing Inspectors Unlikely to Improve Conditions for Migrant Fishermen

Brian Hioe
The Fisheries Agency has announced that it intends to recruit 79 inspectors, as part of an initiative to increase the number of inspections carried out of migrant fishing vessels conducting deep sea fishing. This takes place, then, as part of an attempt to improve the labor conditions for migrant fishermen. The labor inspectors will primarily work in Pingtung, Kaohsiung, and Yilan...
August 2022EnglishLaborSocial Movements5 min read

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

Andi Kao
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...
EnglishLaborNovember 2019Social Movements14 min read

Migrant Fishermen Abuses Continue to Be Covered up Through Collaboration of Taiwanese State and Capital

Andi Kao
On September 20th, the training ship Yu Shiun No. 2 departed Ch’ien-chen Harbor in Kaohsiung, carrying an eclectic crew of passengers, including officials with the Fisheries Agency, employees of the Overseas Fisheries Development Council of the Republic of China, and members of the Serve the People Association, the Environmental Justice Foundation, and the Yilan Migrant Fishermen Union ...
EnglishLaborOctober 2019Social Movements13 min read