Peasants in Taiwan

[buffalo_bill]

Sire ,

 

I hate to put myself in opposition to the boardmanagement , but consider this :

 

The wurkpeople we are talking about are not graduates from Harvard, they are countryside folk whose living conditions probably have been similar at home in Isaan ; having seen a lot of these places in Taiwan I would say they do not care too much about sleeping in bunks like you saw them on TV. At the dormitories I know they do not have to pay anything but are free to rent an apartment Kaohsiung main street if they like. Workers from Poland who are on a large site here in my ( German ) neighbourhood live under exactly the same conditions.

 

A permanent problem is unrest due to alcohol abuse and gambling. Therefore the factory owners try to stop that in whichever way possible, hence the restrictions. To my experience it is not generally unfair how they treat them. Thai workers in Taiwan are not famous for high grade of discipline , which would be in accordance with what the famous nanaplaza.com thinks about the Thais I believe.

 

Having said this , in the Chinese ranking Thais range somewhere between apes and monkeys . Maybe therefore the Thai media jump on stories like this to express their anger.

 

BuBi

[Nervous_Dog]

I surprised it hasn;t happened more often.

 

The WORST scams in Thailand are done by Isaan people against their neighbours.

 

They act as middlemen, charge from 200 000 - 400 000 baht for the "right" to work in Taiwan, promise a great wage, and the poor thai gets a crap job.

 

He borrows to get there, finds out that in 3 years, he'll at best break even. So much for going overseas to make money to buy his own farm,

 

Dream shattered

 

I;d riot too, but a LOT more should be done here to stop the middlemen

 

DOG

[whosyourdaddy]

"BTW, why did you feel the need to use the word 'peasants' in the title as opposed to 'Thais' or 'Thai workers'?"

 

I think their behavior does not warrent the use of the word Thais or thai workers. They are guests in the country and are making a decent income by most standards. A friend worked there and cleared 30K a month. My friend came back with enough money for a house after 2 years there. Try that in BKK as a constuction worker. The word peasant was the most polite of all the other words that were going through my mind at the time. "Scambags" was a close second.

 

 

If I remember right my friend did not have to pay anything extra other than the flight and the first few nights in a hotel. No 200,000 fee as someone suggested. Taiwan employs over 50% of overseas thais, much better than working for 120B a day on the underground. He is coming over to the house on the weekend will ask him again

 

_________________________________

 

It was interesting that the BBC had a very balanced view of the topic. I first heard of the story on radio australia where they hammered the thais

[whosyourdaddy]

"that's luxury for what i have seen myself in dormitories of Taiwanese owned factories in China. 10 sqm for 10 people is pretty much standard. clothes are stored outdoors on hangers. there are even factories of greedy owners, where the people sleep in shifts; 2 people share a bed: while the one is working the other is sleeping and vice versa. '

 

 

How does this differ from many issan houses. At my first place there were 6 guards. They each worked 12 hour shifts and shared the same apartment. 3 worked. 3 slept. but they were only getting 2500B a month. They could not afford mobile phones so I dont think there was a ban on them

[Nervous_Dog]

WYD - the 200 000 baht scam is well known and thriving in many of the villages I visit for work.

 

Years ago it wasn;t so bad, but recently its gotten a LOT worse.

 

DOG

[kamui]

WORKER RIOTPROTESTERS SEEN AS HEROES

Taiwan apologises for mistreating Thais

 

BANGKOK POST and AP

 

Taiwan's vice president Annett Lu has apologised for the maltreatment of Thai workers that culminated in a riot in Kaohsiung city on Sunday night, the Thailand Trade and Economic Office (TTEO) said yesterday.

 

Mrs Lu visited the workers' camp site and was briefed by an independent investigative committee, chaired by deputy chairman Lai Jingling of Taiwan's Council of Labour Affairs, the IIEO said in its report.

 

Representatives of the TTEO and local non-governmental organisations also sit on the committee.

 

The TTEO represents Thailand, which has no diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

 

Mr Lai was surprised to learn that Thai workers had to work and live in difficult conditions, including crowded living quarters and limited bathroom facilities, and that some had been beaten with electric batons, the TTEO report said.

 

After her meeting with the investigative committee, Mrs Lu offered her apology for the way the Thai workers had been treated. She also said Taiwanese had to show more empathy towards foreign labourers.

 

``We have to use consideration to deal with them,'' she was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. ``We have to regard them like our brothers and sisters.''

 

The committee persuaded with the employers, Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation and Hua Fan Co, which was the broker importing the 1,700 workers, to comply with a 23-point list of demands to improve the workers' living and working conditions.

 

After the riot, television news broadcasts in Taiwan showed workers sifting through debris in a fire-damaged office, searching for their passports. They also showed metal bunk beds packed into dormitory rooms housing hundreds of workers.

 

There are about 100,000 Thais working in Taiwan, the largest employer of Thai labourers working overseas.

 

Meanwhile, the House committee on labour called on the Labour Ministry yesterday to blacklist job placement agencies that sent Thai workers to live in poor conditions overseas.

 

Panel spokesman Suchart Srisang said the riot was the culmination of problems that had built up for years.

 

The committee asked the World Labour Federation to look into the way the workers were treated. Mr Suchart said he was outraged that electric batons were used to discipline Thai workers. He said he viewed the workers' riot as a heroic act. They deserved praise for having brought the terrible facts into the open.

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"Mr Lai was surprised to learn that Thai workers had to work and live in difficult conditions, including crowded living quarters and limited bathroom facilities, and that some had been beaten with electric batons, the TTEO report said."

 

Yep, peasants indeed.

 

Sanuk!

[Nervous_Dog]

And they borrow against their family to go there, huge somes.

 

Not exactly peasants, but peoople who are sick of being mistreated.

 

DOG

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"Not exactly peasants"

 

ND, I was being sarcastic. Guess I should have added a graemlin.

 

Sanuk!

[kamui]

Taiwan political heavy ousted in Thai workers scandal

 

Taipei (dpa) - Taiwan's ruling party Sunday officially expelled a heavyweight member for violating party discipline in what was seen as a move to minimize the political impact to the island's leader and the ruling authorities.

 

"The Central Advisory Committee of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has decided to mete out the stiffest punishment against Chen Che-nan by removing his party membership," said committee chairman Kao Chih-peng.

 

Chen, formerly a confidant of President Chen Shui-bian, acting as his deputy secretary-general and adviser, is being investigated for his alleged role in a corruption scandal in the import of workers from Thailand to build a subway system in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan.

 

The scandal was sparked by a riot in August by several hundred Thai workers protesting against inhumane treatment and exploitation.

 

The former aide is under investigation over whether he had used his influence to help a local hiring company, Hua Pan, win the contract to import the workers.

 

Kao said although the alleged Kaohsiung subway scandal is still under probe, Chen has been found violating party discipline by "lying repeatedly, taking leave of absence without permission and visiting improper places".

 

He was referring to the former aide's previous denial of visiting Thailand, failing to apply for leave and report to the president of his plan to accompany a subway company executive, who is also under corruption probe, to a casino in South Korea for gambling.

 

Taiwan bars officials from gambling in casinos. Opening casinos is illegal on the island.

 

The political fallout of the case has seriously hurt the DPP and President Chen who has repeatedly vowed to end corruption on Taiwan.

 

An opinion poll published on Sunday by the Taipei-based United Daily News Sunday showed that 60 per cent of 1,117 respondents said they no long have confidence in DPP governing of Taiwan, while 52 per cent believe the DPP is not clean and honest.

 

The same poll found 56 per cent of the respondents were not satisfied with Chen's performance, double the percentage of those who were satisfied with his work.

 

http://www.bangkokpost.net/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=58729