25 August 2023. WBI’s Director Bonny Ling was invited by the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT) to speak on the topic of responsible migrant recruitment, Taiwan and the opportunity for labour reforms.
The talk follows an ECCT event from 2018 on the “Ethical recruitment of migrant workers: Challenges in securing sustainable labour supply chains in Taiwan” with representatives from IKEA and Walmart.
In the talk, Dr Ling shared key recent international and regional developments on responsible recruitment.
Given Taiwan’s reliance on foreign labour*, especially in low-waged sectors of employment such as manufacturing, fishing and domestic care, there is an urgent need to bring in the responsible recruitment of migrant workers, where they do not bear the cost of their own job placement abroad.
Bonny’s talk highlighted that one of the most prevalent risks of forced labour concerns how migrant workers are recruited for cross-border employment due to the high fees paid to labour brokers or agencies for connecting them to job opportunities abroad. Migrant workers in Taiwan also pay a monthly service fee to their labour brokers, representing about 7-10 percent of their monthly base pay.
Fees incurred by the migrant workers associated with their job placement (travel documents, transportation, training, medical examinations, etc.) plus other illegitimate and undisclosed costs add up. This growing debt burden presents serious risks of debt bondage and forced labour.
Referencing in the discussions the recent bilateral commitment of June 2023 to eliminate recruitment fees for migrant workers to come out of the first US-Taiwan Trade Agreement, Bonny’s talk emphasised risks of forced labour that businesses in Taiwan must be aware of and address.
The recent bilateral commitment to eliminate recruitment fees for migrant workers to come out of the first US-Taiwan trade agreement in June 2023, is a major step forward for both negotiating parties towards the elimination of forced labour. It signals that a benchmark of the trade agreement’s success will be on concrete efforts to bring in the responsible recruitment of migrant workers.
“Efforts on the front of trade negotiations between Taiwan-US will coincide with efforts in Europe to bring in a forced labour import ban, like the US, as well as the EU Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence. This means that Taiwan must urgently reform its labour management system to eliminate migrant-borne recruitment fees.” – Dr. Bonny Ling
This ECCT event is part of a growing discourse, which addresses the relationship between ethical labour practices, forced labour and Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) legislations. Guests were also presented with a copy of WBI’s Practical Guide on Understanding ILO’s Forced Labour Indicators “了解國際強迫勞動指標: 台灣中小企業 實務指南” for Taiwan’s SMEs, published last year in December.
“As multinational corporations seek to de-risk and further diversify their supply chains, they will need to ensure that their business partners comply with the highest international standards for the treatment of labourers or risk facing negative consequences, including reputational damage, erosion of ESG ratings and financial harm.” – ECCT Event Press
Corporate responsibility for human rights is a key focus for TW-EU ties and we are honoured to contribute to discussions on this very important topic.
*According to statistics from Taiwan’s Ministry of Labour, as of June 2023, there are currently 739,496 low-waged migrant workers employed in Taiwan. They come from the four countries of origin of Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam.
