Presentation given at the Migrating out of Poverty Conference, 2017.

1. Migrating out of Poverty International Conference
School of Oriental and African Studies
London, England
March 28-29, 2017
The Politics of Migrant Labour
Policymaking: The Case of
Taiwan
Prof. DIOSDADO B. LOPEGA
Division of Political
Science
Department of Social
Sciences
College of Arts and
Sciences
University of the Philippines Los
Baños
College,

2. Politics
As used in this paper, politics refers to
power.
What is power?
As defined by Andrew Heywood,
power is the ability of A to get B do
something that B wouldn’t do (by
himself or herself alone).

3. What is policymaking?
It is the process of setting
and directing the course of
activity to be pursued by a
government, business, etc.

4. Politics of migrant labour
policymaking in Taiwan
This paper aims to give answer to the following
questions:
1.WHO has the power in making
migrant labour policies in Taiwan?
2.WHEREdoes power lie in
connection with migrant labour policymaking
in Taiwan?
3.HOWis power distributed in
connection with migrant labour policymaking
in Taiwan?

5. Theoretical Framework
In order to answer the three questions, I
will use the theory of
TRANSGOVERNMENTALISM
As explained by Political Scientist
and legal expert Anne-Marie
Slaughter (1997),
TRANSGOVERNMENTALISM puts
premium on non-state actors
particularly NGOs as they complement
the state in carrying out its
policymaking function.

6. TRANSGOVERNMENTALIS
M
Keith Faulks (1999), a Political
Sociologist reinforces
Slaughter’s idea. He believes
that states seek to share their
power with other states and
the institution of civil society in
response to social changes.

7. 1. INTRODUCTION
Taiwan
considered as one of the Asian Dragons
together with Hong Kong, Singapore and
South Korea because of its impressive
economic performance.
economically, being an island nation like
Singapore, it lacks natural resources. Frank
Hsiao and Mei-chu Hsiao (2001) pointed out
that Japan, China and Southeast Asia
supplied the resource requirements of Taiwan
in the past.

8. I. INTRODUCTION
state of events (economic and political
conditions) did not deter Taiwan and in
fact it became a country with one of
the best performing economies
Taiwan experienced rapid
industrialization that transformed the
country into the world’s no. 1 hi-tech
electronics and semiconductor
manufacturing hub

9. I. INTRODUCTION
In the 1980s Taiwan became an
economic power with a mature and
diversified economy, solid presence in
international markets and huge foreign
exchange reserves
In 2010, it replaced former colonial
master Japan as the world’s top
producer of semiconductor

10. I. INTRODUCTION
Taiwan’s economy is ranked 14th in the
world by the 2016 Global
Competitiveness Report (cross-
country benchmarking analysis of the
factors and institutions that determine
long term growth and prosperity) of
the World Economic Forum.

11. I. INTRODUCTION
Good and impressive
economic
performance
- resulted to
problems

12. II. The Taiwan Economic Miracle: Better to
be the Head of a Chicken than the Tail of
an Ox
- Contest for power between the
Nationalist forces (KMT) of Ching Kai-
shek and the communists led by
Mao Tze-dong
- the communists triumphed in mainland
China
- Chiang Kai-shek and his forces
escaped to Taiwan

13. II. The Taiwan Economic Miracle: Better to be
the
Head of a Chicken than the Tail of an Ox
- in1949 Taiwan was poor
- supported by the US
- supported by the international
community
- supported by the Philippines
- reforms were effectively undertaken by
the Koumintang government)

14. II. The Taiwan Economic Miracle: Better to be
the
Head of a Chicken than the Tail of an Ox
Government-driven and supervised
reforms were successful (e.g. land
reform)
1960 - birth of the small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) considered as the
harbingers of the country’s economic
miracle
SMEs were honed and supported by the
government (e.g. Ministry of Economic
Affairs or MOEA)

15. II. The Taiwan Economic Miracle: Better to be
the
Head of a Chicken than the Tail of an Ox
SMEs were successful
- contributed much to the economic development of Taiwan.
- many just operate in homes and houses, staffed by family
members and relatives
- specialized in the manufacture of items that have no
competition in the international market, items like
specialized pins and medals, figurines, metal-based
decorative items, cigarette lighters, tennis rackets
and lately electronic and computer parts and
peripherals

16. II. The Taiwan Economic Miracle: Better to
be the Head of a Chicken than the Tail of
an Ox
- According to the White Paper on
SMEs in Taiwan there were 1,363,393
enterprises of this kind in 2013
- the same White Paper pointed out
that
these SMEs make up 98.5% of
Taiwan’s
companies

17. II. The Taiwan Economic Miracle: Better to be
the
Head of a Chicken than the Tail of an Ox
… SMEs
- 75-80% of all employment
- 47% of the total economy
- In 1998 The Economist magazine
called these SMEs as the “Army of
Ants”
- employers of migrant workers

18. II. The Taiwan Economic Miracle: Better to be
the
Head of a Chicken than the Tail of an Ox
SMEs were set up by “black hands”
bosses
* former employees in larger
establishments
* mostly non-college graduates,
they learn by doing

19. II. The Taiwan Economic Miracle: Better to be
the
Head of a Chicken than the Tail of an Ox
“black hands” bosses
- their philosophy is “better to be the head
of a chicken than the tail of an ox”
meaning, better to be the boss of a
small company than be a mere
employee or
subordinate in a big company
- with the number of Taiwanese who
established their own small businesses,
SMEs mushroomed in the country

20. III. How the Labor Pie is
Divided and Who Gets What?
- The economic success of Taiwan is a
pull factor for migrant workers to go to
the island to work
- poverty and unemployment in the
sending countries or countries of
origin of the migrant workers are push
factors

21. III. How the Labor Pie is
Divided and Who Gets What?
In 1989 Taiwan approved the entry of
foreign workers mainly in high-priority
national construction projects (e.g. Taipei
subway system). Employers and
contractors requested for 65,000 but only
45,000 were permitted by the
government
In 1991 an additional 15,000 foreign
workers were allowed entry to Taiwan by
the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA), now
the Ministry of Labor (MOL)

22. III. How the Labor Pie is
Divided and Who Gets What?
In 1991 when the CLA approved the entry
of 15,000 foreign workers, only 5
countries were allowed and selected to
send foreign workers to Taiwan, these
were:
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- Philippines
- Thailand
- Vietnam

23. III. How the Labor Pie is
Divided and Who Gets What?
Noticeably all these 5 countries are
members of the ASEAN, as this is part
of the Go-South Policy of the Taiwan
government
- strategy not to be too dependent on
China, and the Taiwan businessmen
and factory owners were encouraged
to
branch out or relocate to Southeast
Asia

24. III. How the Labor Pie is
Divided and Who Gets What?
In 2004, the Taiwan government
approved the entry of foreign workers
from Mongolia.
At the end of 2016 there were a total of
624,768 foreign workers in Taiwan
according to the data of the Ministry of
Labor. Of the total 274,309 are male
workers and 350,459 are female
workers.

25. III. How the Labor Pie is
Divided and Who Gets What?
Breakdown:
As to nationality and sex the number of foreign
workers in Taiwan during the end of 2016 were:
Male Female Total
1. Indonesian 56,061 189,119
245,180
2. Filipinos 48,876
86,921 135,797
3. Thais 48,903 9,966
58,869
4. Vietnamese 120,468 64,452 84,920
5. Others 1 1 2
TOTAL 274,309 350,459 624,768

26. III. How the Labor Pie is
Divided and Who Gets What?
This number of foreign workers at
624,768 is 2.66% if plotted against
the total native population of
Taiwan which is 23,404,440 based
on the data from the Ministry of the
Interior.

27. IV. THE HEAT IS ON: WHEN EVIDENCE IS
INVOKED FOR POLICY CHANGES
As there are more female workers than
male workers in Taiwan at present, the
feminization of foreign workers is evident.
Considering the composition of foreign
workers in Taiwan as to place of origin
and sex, there are indications that some
of Taiwan’s foreign labor policies are
skewed towards categories that are
composed of large number of members.

28. IV. THE HEAT IS ON: WHEN EVIDENCE
IS INVOKED FOR POLICY CHANGES
The high number of foreign female
workers, especially female Indonesian
workers who are mostly employed as
caretakers and house helpers, has been
of course noticed by the Taiwan
government.
As an apparent measure to help this
category of workers, the Taiwan
government initiated to pass a proposed
law called the “Domestic Workers
Protection Bill”.

29. IV. THE HEAT IS ON: WHEN EVIDENCE
IS INVOKED FOR POLICY CHANGES
Liu Chuan-ming, Director of the Council of
Labor Affairs Department of Labor
Standards, said that his Council drafted
a Domestic Workers Protection Act and
sent it to the Legislative Yuan for review
in 2012.
On March 2, 2015, the Migrant
Empowerment Network in Taiwan
(MENT) initiated a petition demanding
that the Legislative
Yuan already pass this draft bill into law.

30. IV. THE HEAT IS ON: WHEN EVIDENCE
IS INVOKED FOR POLICY CHANGES
In the petition MENT cited the Convention
on the Elimination of all forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
and the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights and the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights as bases of their demand
for the immediate passage of the draft
“Domestic Workers Protection Act”.
To date there is no answer yet from the
Taiwan government regarding this
petition.

31. IV. THE HEAT IS ON: WHEN EVIDENCE
IS INVOKED FOR POLICY CHANGES
In 1989 when Taiwan decided to import
foreign workers there was no policy in
place to protect the rights of the blue-
collar foreign workers.
It was only in 1992 when the Employment
Service Act was passed, covering foreign
workers.

32. IV. THE HEAT IS ON: WHEN EVIDENCE
IS INVOKED FOR POLICY CHANGES
The Employment Service Act, Paragraph 3,
Article 48, Chapter 5, requires foreign
workers to undergo medical examinations.
Concerned government agencies, like the
Council of Labor Affairs (CLA), now the
Ministry of Labor (MOL) and the Center for
Disease Control (CDC) of the Ministry of
Health and Welfare (MHW) implemented this
particular provision and required foreign
workers to undergo bi-annual medical
examinations, and for foreign female workers
to undergo pregnancy test as part of the
medical examination process.

33. IV. THE HEAT IS ON: WHEN EVIDENCE
IS INVOKED FOR POLICY CHANGES
Pregnancy Test as a contract extension
and renewal requirement was a source
of complaint among female foreign
workers
- reasons for the complaint:
* additional medical examination
payment;
* intrusion to privacy and
* other personal matters
- Social Workers of the Migrant Workers
Concern Desk (MWCD) received
complaints from female foreign workers
about this pregnancy test requirement.

34. IV. THE HEAT IS ON: WHEN EVIDENCE
IS INVOKED FOR POLICY CHANGES
Actions taken:
- Contact networks for support (Verite)
- Directly contact and tell the state actors
concerned (CLA officials), explaining to them
that the requirement of the government for
female foreign worker to undergo pregnancy
test as part of the medical examination
process is a contravention to international
treaties and instruments particularly
Paragraph 1, Article 6 of the International
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination Against Women.

35. IV. THE HEAT IS ON: WHEN EVIDENCE
IS INVOKED FOR POLICY CHANGES
It states and I quote,
“State Parties shall take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination against
women in all matters relating to marriage and
family relations and in particular shall ensure, on
a basis of equality of men and women: (e) The
same rights to decide freely and responsibly on
the number and spacing of their children and to
have access to the information, education and
means to enable them to exercise these rights.
(emphasis mine).

36. IV. THE HEAT IS ON: WHEN EVIDENCE
IS INVOKED FOR POLICY CHANGES
As a result, the pregnancy test requirement as part of the
medical examination process was abolished on
November 9, 2002.
A look at the website of the Center for Disease Control
reveals that there were still female foreign workers who
underwent pregnancy test after 2003, the year following
the abolition of such policy:
2003 – 40 cases 2006 – 60 cases
2004 – 55 cases 2007 – 37 cases
2005 – 58 cases 2008 up to present – no cases
anymore

37. V. CONCLUSION
The problem that results from the economic
development of Taiwan is acute labor shortage.
This problem has no ready answer in the
domestic front because many Taiwanese of
working age prefer to establish their own
companies or businesses albeit small because
they believe that “it is better to be the head of a
chicken that be the tail of an ox”.
The problem of the lack of labour is exacerbated
because many Taiwanese blue-collar workers are
choosy in so far as job is concerned.

38. V. CONCLUSION
Many Taiwanese of working age consider the
jobs in the manufacturing industries and
factories as dirty, degrading and dangerous
or the so-called 3-D jobs.
As the labour shortage has no answer in
Taiwan, the government allows employers to
import foreign workers.
The influx of workers to Taiwan which
numbered at 624,768 at the end of 2016
resulted to yet other concerns like the way
how to safeguard their rights as labourers.

39. V. CONCLUSION
Civil society groups and other NGOs like TIWA,
MWCD, MENT and Verite, share power in so
far as migrant labour policymaking is
concerned.
This can be evidenced in the abolition of the
pregnancy test as a requirement among
female workers when renewing or extending
their contracts. A policy change was effected
as a result of the efforts of NGOs and other
civil society groups.

40. V. CONCLUSION
Labour brokers and most employers are
not in accord with the idea of giving
more concessions to foreign workers
Labour brokers and employers believe
that submissive foreign workers will
make it easy for them to control hence
will not cause or give them any trouble

41. V. CONCLUSION
Labour brokers and employers try to
convince the government and state
actors that if foreign workers will be
given more leeway, concessions and
“freedom” they may “run away” or
abscond their jobs, therefore the
government has to control foreign
workers by implementing strict laws
High rate of “run away” workers is a threat
to society

42. V. CONCLUSION
In Taiwan, there are indications
that the government or state
actors, NGOs or civil society
groups, employers and labour
brokers share power in the
policymaking process
concerning foreign labour.

43. The who, where and how in the
migrant labour policymaking of
Taiwan.
Government and State
Actors
Labor Brokers
and Employers
Non-
government
Organizations
(NGOs) and
civil society
groups

44. V. CONCLUSION
WHO – the government, state actors, NGOs, civil
society groups, labour brokers and employers
posses the power or are all actively involved in
the
migrant labour policymaking in Taiwan
WHERE – the power of migrant labour policymaking lie in
the different stakeholders (the government,
state
actors, NGOs, civil society groups, labour
brokers and employers)
HOW – the power of migrant labour policymaking is
shared among the different stakeholders

45. V. CONCLUSION
The government and the state actors have the
most power when it comes to migrant labour
policymaking
NGOs or civil society groups and the labour
brokers and employers also wield power in
migrant labour policymaking yet they channel
this to the government for it to be realized.
NGOs and civil society groups and the labour
brokers and employers do not agree as to
how foreign workers will be treated and
helped

46. Thank
you.