Taiwan’s professional groups have been accused of shutting down foreign workers

Electronic groups including Japan Canon and Innolux, affiliated with Apple Foxconn, are accused of shutting down workers in Taiwan as the emergence of the Covid-19 hits the country’s financial sector.

His comments highlight the role that people play in promoting Taiwan’s development as a tool for technology. The world is a chip industrial link – a very important role when the world is facing a semiconductor problem.

According to internal documents and labor relations provided by the Financial Times, the companies, which also include Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) – the largest in the world by installing and testing an ASE facility – have banned foreign workers from leaving the residence. who live apart from going to work.

With Taiwan’s exports increasing in the wake of corruption, servers, laptops and other home-based equipment, the country has been struggling with its first crisis the spread of coronavirus infection. Taiwanese wealth grew about 9% in the first quarter.

Lennon Wong, a civil rights activist with the Serve the People Association, said: “It has become increasingly common for employers not to arrest their migrant workers.” A study by the human rights group found that 60% of foreign workers were not allowed to go on vacation, more than double the amount before Taiwan the first significant explosion in the area in the middle of May.

As of April, 713,000 migrant workers, mostly from the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia, were employed in Taiwan, accounting for 8% of the country’s workforce. More than 60% work in factories, including those in control of global electronic weapons.

“The stigma attached to migrant workers in Taiwan is a matter of course, but the epidemic has worsened,” Wong said.

Fellow employers, who are required to provide lodging and food for immigrants, in particular, provide employment so as not to cost too much. About four to 12 employees share one room.

Under pressure from health officials to protect other industrial groups, employers in the last two weeks have enacted new laws to enforce state laws.

Canon, a Japanese electronics company, keeps migrant workers at its Taichung factories to their accommodations after work and warns them not to associate. “Other than going to and from work, don’t leave the dormitory,” Canon said in an internal blog. It added: “Public discussion is not allowed in the dormitory [sic]. ”

Canon admitted that the rule must have been very strict. “There is no denying that what we wrote and the words we used were more in some places due to the greater concern for the safety of employees and the community. In response to inquiries from inside and outside the company, we have changed the case on June 18. “The company said this in an interview with FT.

The migrant workers at Innolux received a message on June 13 stating: “Please note that you are all closed for 30 days from yesterday. You are not allowed to go out then please just stay in the dorm as much as you can and follow the rules given by the innolux company this is everyone’s safety! [sic]. ”

Innolux said the message was sent by a broker who manages the accommodation due to “incorrect communication” between the broker and the company.

ASE and its SPIL allies in June ordered that migrant workers return to their accommodation, where they were barred from leaving except to work. According to two employees at ASE and SPIL, migrant workers are required to enter their dorm and go through a computer within an hour. Those who arrive late are locked out and interrogated.

ASE said it had “established a policy of requesting our partners to adhere to the schedule.” For example from the dormitory to work and vice versa. This is to ensure that they strive to stay in their accommodations after work and to avoid unnecessary trips and group meetings. ”

SPIL says the epidemic measures in their dormitories are following the advice of health officials in Taiwan. “The company respects the decision of migrant workers if they want to return to the dorm, and encourages them not to go any further.”

However, the June 5 workers’ directive read: “In order to protect the health of all employees, the company has banned all employees from going abroad. […] the company and the lodge monitor the time from the factory to the day’s sleep. “

After gangs hit several electrical factories in western Taiwan in Miaoli County, government chief Hsu Yao-chang on June 7 announced that migrant workers were being banned from factories and their residences. The restrictions were much stronger than the simple sweetness given to the common people.

This was challenged by Tseng Wen-hsueh, a lawmaker in Miaoli. “The reason why migrant workers are at high risk of contracting the disease is that they have to be in more dormitories,” he said. “We don’t have to target people because of their country but to address the real problem.”

No government official has spoken out against the ban on foreign workers. No other regional government with a high level of industry has enacted laws like this one in Miaoli.

Some employers have begun to threaten tactics. “If you are infected with Covid-19, when you die, your body will be cremated in Taiwan immediately, your family will not be able to see your body, and your family’s money will be removed immediately,” Alibaba, a Taiwanese retailer, said in a message to migrant workers. “If you don’t die, you will have money to pay for yourself when you isolate yourself, receive medical treatment and other people who have been in contact with you.”