Fishermen Organize First Migrant Workers’ Union in Taiwan · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

Eighty-nine Philippine fishermen in Taiwan's Yilan County have formed the island's first migrant workers’ union, three years after an amendment to the Labor Union Act was passed giving migrant workers the right to organize their own labor unions.
The fishermen union was formed on May 25, 2013, but represents only a fraction of the migrant fishermen legally hired in Taiwain — currently, there are more than 6,000 [zh]. Among them, Indonesians are the majority, and the rest are mainly from Vietnam and the Philippines. The majority haven't been unionized and face serious exploitation from employers.
The meeting. Photo taken by Haochung (顥中) from coolloud.org. CC: NC.
Taiwan independent media Pots.com reported [zh] the common unfair employment practices for these migrant fishermen:
Jose Toquero說，契約上寫8小時，但若漁船故障需等到隔天，往往從晚上11點開始連續工作14個小時，而遠洋一次出海就需三、四天的作業，也很難明確劃分工作與休息。「我們沒有真正的休假，雖然滿月時不會出海，一個月本來規定有五天休假，但如果還需要補網子、做其他的工作，常常整個月都沒有休假，而且能不能休假也要看雇主，有的雇主完全不讓你休息。」
Rolando說，剛來台時曾經連續十八個月都只拿到8000元薪水，光仲介費就需扣掉一萬多。談話時，我注意到他眼睛裡有不尋常的泛紅血絲，一問之下，他才說那是因為工作內容不只漁船作業，全部的事情都必須做，他的眼睛就是因為被老闆叫去做焊接時，因為沒有足夠的安全措施而導致眼睛被火花噴濺受傷。
The fishing boat. Photo taken by Haochung (顥中), from Coolloud.org CC: NC.
Taiwan independent media outlet coolloud.org described [zh] the vision of this newly formed migrant workers’ union:
工會監事會召集人何希（Jose Toquero）表示，來台前與雇主之約定通常也是每日工作8小時，但海上狀況多，幾乎不可能按時下班，不只是加班費該給而未給、工時過高是一大問題，未來希望能透過工會與雇主協調並解決。
由於工會組織最早的人際網絡是菲律賓Ilonggo的在台同鄉會，所以目前加入工會的都是菲律賓籍，不過Jose強調，希望工會能持續擴大，未來能不只服務菲律賓人，要讓更多印尼漁工也一起加入…現場也有來自漁業興盛的高雄、屏東等地的移民團體前來「取經」，盼能讓移工組織工會的風氣持續擴散。
The fishermen. Photo taken by Haochung (顥中), Coolloud.org. CC: NC
Coolloud  also interviewed [zh] Lee Lee-huan (李麗華), a staff member from the Haoran Foundation, who helped establish this union, about the difficulties in organizing the migrant fishermen in Taiwan:
雖然《工會法》在2年前就修正開放外籍人士加入工會，但還欠缺許多配套，例如語言就是重要問題，多數移工不諳中文，就連要了解相關法令的內容都相當困難，此外，船上工作工時不固定、臨時狀況多，四散在不同船家的漁工們，要湊在一起開會，也實屬不易。