Labor Affairs

Analysis: New Rule To Ensure Foreign Fishery Workers Get Paid

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By Luffy Li/John Van Trieste

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Shih I-hsiang of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights discusses a new system designed to make sure migrant workers who crew Taiwan's deep-sea fishing fleet get paid on time.

Wage Withholding for Deep-Sea Fishers in Taiwan: Key Perspectives

 

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REPORTER:  

How have fishing boats been able to get away with withholding their crews’ wages in the first place. Can you give us some explanation?

 

Shih I-hsiang (SENIOR RESEARCHER, TAIWAN ASSOC. FOR HUMAN RIGHTS):  

Salaries are withheld because the captain, the owner or broker use the fishers’ isolation at sea with no way to reach the outside world and know if their pay has been transferred to their accounts. So if fishers can use Wi-Fi at sea they can check every month whether they’ve been paid on time.

 

REPORTER:  

So what's your reaction to this new fund that ship owners will have to pay into to ensure their crew salaries are paid on time?

 

Shih I-hsiang (SENIOR RESEARCHER, TAIWAN ASSOC. FOR HUMAN RIGHTS):  

It won’t solve the problem at all. And [the rule] says boats that pay wages every month are “zero risk” and they’re “low risk” if they withhold wages for three months. This is something civil society finds hard to accept because it’s taken for granted that employers must pay their staff. And we worry this policy could actually encourage operators to make withholding wages a common practice.

 

REPORTER:  

Since you're so critical of the new policy, what do you think the government should do instead?

 

Shih I-hsiang (SENIOR RESEARCHER, TAIWAN ASSOC. FOR HUMAN RIGHTS):  

The Labor Standards Act should cover [Foreign] deep-sea fishers and the “two-tiered system” [which gives Taiwanese crew different rights] should be abolished. Deep-sea fishers should be included in Taiwan’s labor laws and protections.