People have different reasons for changing career, such as wanting to pursue better development space, the current job content or environment is not in line with expectations, etc. However, the Employment Service Act stipulates that foreign migrant workers such as fisher workers and caregivers may change employers or jobs in certain conditions. This makes the following established impression more and more clear, "If the employer does not illegally detain or embezzle the documents and money of the migrant workers, or require them work outside the permission or the employer provide food and housing, and the migrant workers also have personal living space, the salary has also been raised a lot, there should not be any problems, right?" But is that really the case? Is the treatment reasonable?
When Rerum Novarum foreign fishermen's action service team cared for the fishermen at the port, they found that a fisherman looked gloomy. After having a small talk with him, we understood his sorrow. The fisherman said that his wife has been working in Taiwan for almost a year, but her employer has been reluctant to let her go out on vacation, and her salary is often in arrears. His wife's agent didn't deal with it very actively either, but he just asked his wife to be patient. He hasn't seen his wife for more than a year, and he often had to rely on mobile phone video to meet her, which made him miss his wife very much.
The Rerum Novarum staff knew that there was a certain degree of fetters and influence among the family, so he extended the service to the fisherman's wife to assist in the negotiation. After some negotiation, through the assistance of government resource channels, the original employer was willing to terminate the contract, and her agent was also willing to return the fisherman's wife's documents, and let Mr. Fisherman's agent take over the service of his wife's work in Taiwan. Soon, the new agent also helped his wife find a job as a domestic helper. He thought the matter was a successful conclusion, but after more than two months, he received news that his wife wanted to transfer it.
The new job of the fisherman's wife is to work as a domestic helper for an overseas family. On the surface, the salary seems to be better than the original salary. If there are daily necessities, the employer will also help to buy them and provide them for free. The workload and time are also within a reasonable range. The agency believes that the treatment given by the employer is quite friendly, so it seems that the problem should be the migrant worker herself, not the employer's problem.
When the Fisherman learned that the agency said everything was normal and could not find a reason for the transfer, he asked the Rerum Novarum staff to help communicate with the agency, hoping that the agency could continue to assist in the transfer. After several twists and turns, the staff and the agent discussed whether it might be a cultural difference or a problem that the work content does not meet expectations. One time, when the agent visited the employer's home, he found out that it may be because the family's conversation style and expression culture are more straightforward and strong, and they are more efficient which is different from the way Taiwanese generally treats people. Therefore, the domestic worker are not used to such a tone, and cannot express her feelings properly due to the language barrier, misunderstandings are easy to occur. Although the employer family did not intentionally treat the domestic worker badly, migrant workers have accumulated a lot of negative attitudes and even feeling of fear.
Later, the fisherman's wife was finally transferred out successfully. At present, the agency has arranged accommodation for her so that she can rest properly. The fisherman's wife also called the Rerum Novarum staff, thanking him for his continuous assistance during this time, and the conversation was finally a lot easier.
From this incident, we can see that migrant workers are working in different places. Under the influence of customs, cultural differences and language barriers, the gap between communication and understanding may be greater than expected. Secondly, when people treat migrant workers in many industries and social welfare, they always think that legal treatment and job content are enough, and the "bottom line of human rights and respect" is constantly lowered, but the respect between labor and employment relations is often missing. Therefore, how to assist the two parties in preparation and understanding of getting along with different cultures and employment identities will be a topic that the agency or related units can strengthen. At the same time, both employers and migrant workers can also take the initiative to understand each other's cultural habits, etc. to make work easier.
In the long run, the fishermen is a group who has been ignored. In 2017, Rerum Novarum reach these people. We not only concern about their lives but help them solve the problem about regulation, salary payment, job accident, employers changing, human trafficking, and so on. We went to 21 ports and solve the practical problems of the fishermen. Due to the language barrier, we see many fishermen do not know how to ask for help and bear the difficult working environment instead. They are working day and night with the thin salary. We are looking forward to your help and hope your can be the protector for the foreign migrants. Press “I want to donate.” or call (02)2397-1933 #122. Thanks for your attention!