Migrant workers face violence for their factory strike, but the Columbans and other supporters in Taiwan are there to help.
By Alice Brown

I never thought this kind of thing would happen. I never thought my employer would treat me this way. I was a hard worker.”

Despite his hard work for the past 33 months, Kreetha Chernklang was beaten by thugs his employer in Taiwan had hired to attack him. Eight men with baseball bats came out of two cars and began hitting him when he left the factory for dinner. Kreetha’s two friends managed to escape and run for help, but they could not prevent the attackers from beating Kreetha into unconsciousness.

As Kreetha sat in front of me at the Columbans’ Hope Workers’ Center (HWC) with massive bruises on both legs, a gash in his arm, and bandages on his head, he remained both fearful and shocked. He and three Thai and six Filipino co-workers had been in a labor dispute just five days before when their employer had refused to return the $1 million in compensation in Taiwan dollars (about $30,000 in U.S. dollars) the employer owed for unpaid overtime, tax refunds, illegal deductions and forced savings. The workers were already upset that they had not received their money and were stunned that the employer’s response to their demands was a hired attack.

Kreetha Chernklang was one of 10 workers who marched against their employer, a Taiwan dye factory, to demand their rights and just compensation.

With the money he saves in Taiwan, Kreetha plans to start a business when he returns home. But he will not have enough to do that if his back wages are not paid. Even if his employer repays him and properly calculates the overtime pay, Kreetha will still have lost a substantial part of his salary paying brokers’ fees to the agency that brought him to Taiwan and found him his job—a legal deduction under Taiwanese labor law.

All 10 of the foreign workers at Yuen Chen Dyeing Company Ltd. have always feared their employer. Within a week of Kreetha’s arrival, a Taiwanese worker was beaten for not working hard enough. In addition to threats of violence, the conditions are grueling inside the factory compound, which is surrounded by a high wall and barbed wire.

The machines’ smoke and the chemicals in the air make it difficult to breathe. Wearing a mask makes it cumbersome to work efficiently, especially when moving the large, heavy rolls of cloth and operating the massive irons.

Occupational accidents happen frequently, and there are no protective measures taken to keep workers safe and informed. In June 2002, shortly after the workers sought the assistance of the HWC, another worker was exposed to a steam blast that burnt his entire face and chest.

After 15 days in the hospital, he was sent home without compensation. According to Taiwanese law, he should have had labor insurance, which would have repaired some of the damage, but this requires a co-payment by the employer that probably was never filed.

The workers accompanied by supporters banded together to protest their mistreatment at the hand of their employer in Taiwan.

One of the workers at the HWC suspects that the employer lost a great deal of revenue when workers stopped working during the labor dispute. This theory is conceivable because the employer had won a seat in the Taiwanese National Assembly last year on purchased votes and was then barred from taking office.

In response to the attack, the workers staged a “stop work protest” the day after the attacks. Such work strikes are illegal in Taiwan. The employer was taken aback by the 10 men leaving work to carry signs that read, “No Violence! We want our rights!”in Chinese, English and Thai.

The media, along with the city and county police, came out in support of the workers. Lin Ju-chang, the director of the Taoyuan County Labor Bureau, also made an appearance and gave the workers permission to take refuge at our shelter. He also promised to arrange a meeting to resolve the workers’ problems.

Kreetha and his co-workers were still sorting out their thoughts and reacting to the attacks when they came to the HWC for protection. At present, the Taiwanese Council on Labor Affairs has no way to protect foreign workers, like these 10 men, whose lives are endangered.

Shortly after arriving at the center, the local government organized a meeting between the workers and their employer. Our social workers acted as the workers’ legal aid.

Kreetha’s ordeal had a happy ending of sorts. The result of the meeting was that the workers decided to return to work after their employer agreed to pay 50 percent of their unpaid salaries.

Kreetha completed his three-year contract with the employer. At the airport—on the day of his departure—Kreetha’s employer gave him his unpaid salary, forced savings and tax refund.

 Alice Brown, who graduated from The Ohio State University this year, worked as an intern at the Columbans’ Hope Workers’ Center in Taiwan in 2002.