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| Tragedy At The Expense Of Profit |
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A Thai father’s crippling accident illustrates the dangerous nature of migrant work in Taiwan. In his early 20s, he worked in Saudi Arabia for two years as a construction worker to support the needs of his wife and newborn son, because his wages as a construction worker in Thailand were not enough to provide for his family’s needs. Following the birth of his daughter, Sanan decided once again to work overseas, this time in Dubai for 1 1/2 years. Being away from his wife and children brought much heartache and pain. Upon returning home to Thailand, Sanan began to contract himself out to build houses for friends and acquaintances. If no one would hire him, he would work as a day laborer on a construction site. The work was strenuous under the burning heat of the Thai sun. As a day laborer, he earned US$9 a day. Work was intermittent; there was no job security. His family was surviving from day to day. The money he saved from working overseas enabled his family to buy a small plot of land. They used the land to plant rice. His wife took care of the rice field. By now, Sanan’s son, Nui, had graduated from high school. He received good grades and wanted to go to college. However, his family’s meager income was not enough to pay his tuition. Nui’s only option was to find work. Sanan wanted the best for his children and was saddened his son could not pursue his education.
Hard Work To Help His Daughter Life was tough. Sanan wanted his daughter to go to college. But for his daughter to pursue her dreams, he needed more capital to expand his family business to provide more income. Sanan was now 50 years old and had endured many years of arduous labor as a migrant worker. He decided for the last time to go overseas to work as a migrant worker. He borrowed money to pay the exorbitant broker’s fee of US$3,200 to work in Taiwan. Like all migrant workers, he knew he was being cheated by his broker. The Thai government had set the legal broker’s fee at US$1,470. But since the competition to secure a job in Taiwan was so high, he had no other choice but to pay. This time Sanan worked as a construction worker building an expressway tunnel in Taipei City. The work was difficult and dangerous. He had only been working for one month when the tunnel he was working in collapsed. Sanan was rescued from the deluge of fallen rock and rushed to a hospital. In a flickering of time, his life changed completely. He hung onto life and the memories of his loved ones at home. That tragic accident made him a quadriplegic for life, relying on a ventilator for his every breath. Two Taiwanese and two Thai workers lost their lives in the accident. A further three Taiwanese and two Thai workers were injured, but none as severely as Sanan.
Negotiating A Settlement Two months after the accident, the Thai labor office sent a letter to the Thai Ministry of Labor informing them that the company would give 1 million New Taiwan Dollars (NTD, US$31,250) in compensation and cover all of Sanan’s medical expenses in Taiwan. The company said it would send half of the money to the family and the other half would be placed in Sanan’s bank account in Taiwan. The money was never sent. Nui often rang the Thai Ministry of Labor to follow up on his father’s condition and to inquire about the compensation that had never arrived. The Ministry told him not to worry, that they were pursuing his father’s case. One year later in sheer desperation, Nui decided to take things into his own hands. He borrowed money from a family friend to buy his ticket for Taiwan. Before leaving, he made contact with a village neighbor who was working in Taiwan. Little did he know that his neighbor, Ban, was an active member of our Thai education group at the Columban-run Hope Workers’ Center (HWC). The hospital where Sanan was staying allowed his son to stay with him for two nights only. Ban then took Nui to the HWC where he stayed in our center’s shelter. I, together with our center’s Thai social worker, Akkraphorn, accompanied Nui to visit his father. It was heart-wrenching to see Sanan lying motionless in bed with a tracheotomy and dependent on a ventilator. Here was a loving and dedicated father and spouse who had endured the harsh realities of a migrant’s life for years now totally reliant on his son. I was touched to experience the gentleness and patience of Nui’s care for his father.
Walking With The Heroes As a lay missionary working in the Hope Workers’ Center, I get used to all the goodbyes of migrant workers. Before they leave us, some share their excitement about returning home, reuniting with family and being able to play with their kids and give them the pasalubongs (gifts) they have bought. Others share their fears: what to do when their little savings are all spent and how to relate with their children, an unfaithful spouse or a sick family member. One center offers a “reintegration program,” which was designed by the Asian Migrant Center in Hong Kong. I and Columban Father Peter O’Neill give seminars to workers that teach them the value of saving money for future investment. I once asked workers how they felt about sending their remittances home. Their answers surprised me: “I feel obligated . . . I feel abused . . . I feel pressured . . . I feel it’s my responsibility . . . I feel tired but . . . I feel disappointed because . . . I feel glad but . . . I feel scared . . . I feel sad that I don’t really own my money….” As I listened, I heard the men’s voices break and saw the women’s eyes moisten. I felt my heart throbbing. I think many migrant workers are heroes because of all they do for their families. The Philippine government even promotes a “new hero’s award” for migrant workers. The families of migrant workers also can be called heroes when they are responsible and accountable for the fruits of the sacrifices their heroes abroad earn by saving and wisely spending this hard-earned money. As I journey with these migrant workers, these heroes, I hope and pray their families realize that they, too, can be heroes. Akkraphorn educated Nui on his father’s rights under Taiwan’s labor law and how to negotiate for compensation from his father’s company. I was flabbergasted when Nui informed us that the Thai Labor Office in Taipei had negotiated for a meager 1 million NTD in compensation for his father. It was an obvious sign that the Thai government had either no experience in negotiation strategies or was selling out Sanan to his company. Prior to Sanan’s case, I had no trust in the Thai Labor Office anyway. Over a period of nine months I sent three letters to the director of the office asking to meet with her, but she did not reply to any of my letters. Thankfully, she was eventually replaced by a new director who invited me to meet with him within his first month in Taiwan. Within three days of Nui coming to the HWC, the center had promptly arranged the first negotiation meeting with the company to be held at the Thai Labor Office. After six intense negotiating meetings over three months, the company finally settled on 3.2 million NTD (US$100,000) in compensation, which included the maximum compensation of 633,600 NTD (US$19,800) coming from Sanan’s labor insurance. The company also agreed to continue to cover all of Sanan’s medical expenses until he returned home, including his transportation to his home province in northern Thailand.
Helping ‘3D’ Workers Nui accompanied his father back to Thailand where their family was reunited again. Nui is now the primary caretaker of his father during the day. Sanan’s wife takes care of him during the night after she has spent a long day of hard work in the family rice field. Sanan’s daughter is now in her second year of college, studying business management. 
Sanan Tahmasee’s son, Nui, came to Taiwan from Thailand to help care for his father one year after his father’s accident.
Local workers rightfully shun the so-called “3D” jobs—dirty, difficult and dangerous—that migrant workers are forced to do. To save on costs to remain competitive in a free trade, liberalized economy, the government allows companies to have migrant workers as up to 30 percent of their workforce. Local workers are too expensive. Cheap migrant labor, at half the price of local labor, provides greater profits. Despite the fact that one of President Chen Shui-bian’s election policies two years ago was to protect the job opportunities of local workers by having a ceiling quota of 300,000 migrant workers, there were 333,477 migrant workers in Taiwan in May 2006. Sanan’s accident was tragic, but avoidable. Until the Taiwan government implements stringent health and safety regulations in the workplace, it cannot claim to be a government that protects the rights of its workers—both local and migrant. Sanan and his family have paid the price of a government that protects the interests of big business and rapid progress at the expense of the lives of its workers. Columban Father Peter O’Neill is the director of the Hope Workers’ Center in Taiwan. |