Introducing ML Publication

We are happy to come out with the first issue of "Migrants & Locals". It will be a monthly publication with the sole purpose of promoting understanding and solidarity between migrant and local workers. Information, articles and reports will be the main contents of this newsletter.

Two organizations jointly publish "ML". These are the Working Organization for Women (WOW) and the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos. The WOW engages in and promotes grassroots women in Taiwan. The APMMF works for the promotion and protection of migrants' rights and welfare not only in Taiwan but in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions as well.

This first issue contains the joint activities of the two organizations. These are namely, the film showing workshops held among Filipino migrant workers and a two-day conference on unemployment and migrant workers in Taiwan. We will continue to work towards greater dialogue and unity among these two entities as depicted in the Common Understanding written in this paper.

Any comments and opinions regarding the content of our publication is always welcome. Those contributions from both local and migrant workers would be most welcome and published in the near future. May this lead us to be more understanding and better solidarity.

[Read More]

火星報發刊詞

我們很高興能出版第一期的火星報。這份月刊將以促進台灣本勞及移住勞工間 的相互瞭解與團結為首要目標。資訊、文章及報導將會是本刊物的主要內容。

"火星報"是由兩個組織共同出版：女媧工作室(WOW)和亞太菲律賓移民組織（APMMF）。女媧工作室致力於投入及推動基層婦女運動。APMMF主要的工作在台 灣、亞太及中東地區推動並保護移住勞工的權利及福利。

創刊號的內容報導了由兩個組織所共同舉辦的一些活動，包括：一系列菲籍移住勞工影片討論工作坊和為期兩天，探討台灣的失業問題與移住勞工議題的會議。如同本期刊登的會議共識所陳述，我們將持續推動本地勞工與移住勞工的進一步 對話和團結。

我們誠摯歡迎您對本刊物的批評與指教。不論是本地勞工或移住勞工的投稿，我們都非常歡迎，並會安排刊登在近期的刊物上。希望這樣的一份刊物，能促進我們彼此更多的理解和更好的團結。

[Read More]

Joint Workshops for Migrant Workers Are Successful !

Are you a hero or a slave? This was the theme of the film showing workshop for Filipino migrant workers held in five areas of Taiwan from May 9 to June 6. The workshops were meant to hear from the migrant workers themselves what their problems are, why they were forced to work in Taiwan and, if the Philippine government gives them a lending hand or not.

The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos (APMMF) and the Working Organization for Women (WOW) organized the activities in close coordination with five Catholic groups. These are with Sr. Joy Salomo in Nankan, the Hsinchu Diocese Migrants Apostolate, the Hope Workers Center in Chungli, the Stella Maris Mission in Kaohsiung, and the Rerum Novarum Center in Taipei. The Labor Rights Association (LRA) also gave assistance for the workshops and joined the activities.

An award winning Canadian documentary film called "Modern Heroes, Modern Slaves" started each workshop. This film depicted the commodification of Filipino migrant workers. Some migrants who watched the film perhaps reflecting on their own lives and situation shed tears. Others cried while sharing their experiences. It was really sad to hear one woman become a caretaker in Taiwan just to earn enough money to spend for her husband's medical expenses. She could not even take care of her own loved one back home.

Almost all of the participants in the workshops were unanimous in saying that unemployment, under-employment and the low wages in the Philippines forced them to work abroad. The APMMF then shared with them that this would remain so as long as the Philippine economy is backward, agricultural and non-industrial. The government has aggravated this condition by implementing the terms dictated by industrialized countries by embarking on liberalization, deregulation and privatization program.

Most common problems encountered by the workers were the high cost of placement fees and the third year extension fees being collected by Philippine placement agencies and local brokers. Others include forced savings and company rules and policies detrimental to their rights. All of these problems emanate from the imposing power of the brokers with both the Philippine and Taiwanese government's witting or unwitting support.

Other problems of the migrants are work related, like computation for wages and overtime pay, few benefits and even tax refund. Contract substitution was also mentioned as a problem and treating holidays as an ordinary day. For caretakers and domestic workers, not enough food, too much work, no day-off, maltreatment and even demeaning of the human person were aired out. Some factory workers on the other hand mentioned the relationship between migrants and locals as a problem.

As for the MECO, most think that it has done little to improve the lot of its citizens working abroad. What came out of the Nankan workshop was more precise. There are government laws and policies being overlooked and not properly implemented. Those in government are more concerned with their remittances than their welfare. In essence, migrant workers are treated like commodities.

Finally, the APMMF urged the migrant workers to get organized not only to fight for their rights and welfare as migrants but as Filipino citizens as well. Migration will go on and on as long as there are no fundamental changes done in the country for the common good. They cannot expect also government to be really sincere in helping us as long as it treats migrant workers as commodities.

[Read More]

移住勞工工作坊順利成功！

你是英雄或是奴隸﹖這是自五月九日至六月六日，於台灣五個地方為菲律賓 移住勞工所舉行的影片討論工作坊的主題。工作坊的目的是為了要傾聽移住勞工 說出自身的問題，討論他們為何被迫來到台灣工作，以及他們是否認為菲國政府 提供必須的協助。

APMMF和女媧工作室在五個天主教團體的協助下，主辦了這幾個工作坊，這些 團體是南嵌的莫修女，新竹的新竹教區外勞服務中心，中壢的希望職工中心，高 雄的海星海員中心，和台北的新事勞工中心。勞動人權協會也提供協助並參與了 工作坊的活動。

每一次工作坊都由一部得獎的加拿大紀錄片拉開序幕，這部名為「現代英雄， 現代奴隸」，敘述菲律賓移住勞工被商品化的事實。或許是因為影片反映了他們 切身的生活情境，有些移住勞工在看影片時潸潸落淚；有些則是在經驗分享的時 候哭紅了雙眼。有一名女子到台灣做看護，只是為了籌措丈夫的醫藥費，她無法 如願地在家照顧愛人的故事，令人悲傷。

幾乎所有工作坊的參與者都指出，菲律賓的失業、不充份就業，以及低工資等 問題，是逼使他們到國外工作的主要原因。在稍後的分享中，APMMF分析上述這 些問題的根本原因，是菲國落後、農業的而非工業化的經濟。而菲國政府所執行 的各項措施，實為因應工業化國家所強迫推展的自由化、去管制和私有化等計劃 ，已使得菲國經濟情況更加惡化。

在台灣的菲律賓勞工所遭遇的主要共同問題，包括昂貴的仲介費和第三年延期 的費用，這些錢都被菲律賓和本地的仲介所搜括。其他的問題包括了強迫儲蓄、 公司管制和種種對他們權利不利的政策。這所有的問題來自仲介業者強大的力量 ，而菲、台政府雙方均有意或無意地支持這股勢力。

其他移住勞工的問題是與工作條件相關的，例如：薪資的計算、加班費的給付 、微不足道的福利，甚至是退稅問題等等；合約的替換問題，以及把假日視為一 般工作天的問題也在工作坊中被提及。對看護工和幫傭而言，常發生的問題包括 三餐不足、勞務過多、沒有休假，甚至是虐待和對人格的貶損也時有所聞。另一 方面，有些工廠工人也指出本地勞工和移住勞工之間關係的問題。

關於馬尼拉經濟文化辦事處的職能，大多數工作坊參與者認為，它並未致力於 改善在國外工作的國民的生活條件。南嵌工作坊的討論中更精確地指出這一點： 菲國政府現有的法律和政策往往被忽視，或未被確實執行。菲國政府官員只關心 移住勞工的匯款，而非他們的福利。本質上，移住勞工被作為商品般對待。

最後，APMMF呼籲移住勞工組織起來，不只是為移住勞工的權利和福利而奮鬥 ，同時也是為菲律賓的國民的權利和福利而奮鬥。只要在菲律賓國內沒有為全民 利益而進行的根本改變，移民問題便會一直存在。並且，只要政府將我們視為商 品，他們便不能期待它有誠意幫助移住工人。

[Read More]

This is a Good Start for Solidarity

Different labor organizations including indigenous peoples groups, union leaders, academicians and students gathered together for a two-day conference on unemployment and migrant workers. This conference was held by WOW (Working Organization for Women). Although there were some differences in opinion, a common understanding of the issues was reached by all after the activity.

The two-day conference was entitled "Did Migrant Workers Steal Our Jobs?--Internationalization of Capital and Unemployment" and it was held on May 20 - 21 at the NTU. Participants in the two-day activity included the Labor Rights Association, Labor Front, Information Center for Labor Education, Hope Workers Center, Rerum Novarum, and Taiwan Indigenous Peoples Association.

A documentary film on the commodification of Filipino migrant workers called "Modern Heroes, Modern Slaves" ushered in the activity. This film served to facilitate the discussion on the causes of migration. Mr. Ramon Bultron, the executive director of the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos, then delivered a paper on the Labor Export Program of the Philippine government and the root causes of Philippine migration.

Afterwards, the participants were divided into two workshop groups to discuss the issue of why there are migrant workers in Taiwan. Some of the ideas that came out of the workshop are that migrant workers are needed by the employers not only to get a source of cheap labor but also to cheapen even the price of local labor. This in turn would create friction between the local and migrant workers instead of blaming the employers and even government policies for the local laborers woes. Migrant workers also tend to be more docile as they are already indebted even before coming to Taiwan and are denied the rights and benefits enjoyed by local workers.

Dr. Pao-Yu Ching, a visiting economics professor at the Graduate School of Social Transformation Studies talked about the internationalization of capital and unemployment. Essentially, she said that the root causes of unemployment in Taiwan and as to why are there migrant workers here are the same, i.e. internationalization of capital. (Please refer to the Common Understanding)

It is also interesting to note some of the comments made by the participants regarding migration. Mr. Kao of the Labor Front stated that from the historical perspective, Taiwan itself is a migrant country. On the other hand, Mr. Isak of Taiwan Indigenous Peoples Association pointed out that the Indigenous Peoples here are like "foreign" workers as to their working conditions and the need to move out of their homelands to work. Professor Tsai of Hsih-Shin University added that if most of Taiwan's industries relocate abroad because of internationalization of capital, Taiwanese workers might need to be migrants later.

What is significant about this two-day activity is that this was the first time that different labor groups sat down together to discuss the issues of unemployment and migration in Taiwan in the context of Internationalization of Capital. What is needed more to be done is to hold further dialogues between local workers and migrant workers and advocates up to the union level to foster more understanding between the two groups and create some sort of solidarity to strengthen the workers movement for the betterment of all.

[Read More]

團結的開始

由女媧工作室籌辦的『資本國際化與失業問題座談會』，邀請了台灣包括原住民 的勞工團體、工會代表、學者及學生，進行為期兩天的討論與分享。各個與會團 體雖然對外勞政策與失業問題持有不同意見，但在各階段的對談之後，仍然達成 幾點共識。

全名為『是"外勞"搶走了我們的工作嗎？--資本國際化與失業問題座談會』的活動 ，於五月二十、二十一日在台灣大學第二學生活動中心舉行，參與的團體包括勞 動人權協會、勞工陣線、工人立法行動委員會、希望職工中心、新事勞工中心以 及原住民族勞工聯盟。

座談會以一部名為「現代英雄現代奴隸」的紀錄片播放，做為開場。透過這部描 述菲律賓移民勞工商品化過程的紀錄片，將座談會的第一個討論事項集中於移民 勞工的形成原因。亞太菲律賓移民組織的總幹事Ramon先生並發表書面報告，說 明菲律賓政府的勞工輸出政策及菲律賓移民勞工產生的根本原因。

隨後，所有的與會者即進行針對台灣引進移住勞工的原因做分組討論。部份與 會人士提及移住勞工的引進，是因為雇主需要廉價勞動力；同時，藉由移住勞工 的引進，本地勞工的工資也被迫調降。本地勞工和移住勞工之間因此產生衝突， 而無法看到雇主和政府政策對本地勞工困境所應負的責任。由於移住勞工在來台 灣之前，必須舉債以負擔龐大的仲介及其他費用，同時又無法享有與本地勞工同 等的權利及福利，使得移住勞工容易變得更溫馴。

世新社會發展研究所客座教授金寶瑜博士，受邀於座談會中發表資本國際化與失 業問題的看法。基本上，她認為在資本國際化的全球性趨勢下，造就了台灣的失 業問題，同時也是台灣引進移住勞工的根源所在。（詳見：座談會共識）

在座談會的討論過程中，值得注意的是與會者對於移民問題的看法。勞工陣線代 表郭國文先生認為，從社會形成的歷史過程來看，台灣本身就是一個移民的社會 。而另一方面，原住民族勞工聯盟的代表以撒克提到，就原住民的勞動環境，及 其必須離開部落到異地工作的現實而言，台灣的原住民其實和"外籍"勞工是沒有 差別的。世新大學講師蔡建仁先生更進一步表示，在資本國際化的趨勢下，如果 台灣的企業持續的外移，台灣人遲早也會變成"外籍"勞工。

本次座談會最大的意義在於，首次使各方勞工團體在資本國際化的思考脈絡下 ，討論台灣失業問題與"外勞"議題。座談會之後，更重要的是，促進本地勞工、 移住勞工、關注勞工者、乃至於各地工會，彼此之間的充分的對話，以促進本地 勞工與移住勞工間更進一步的瞭解，並創造本勞與移住勞工的團結，以強化為全 民公益而奮鬥的工人階級運動。

[Read More]

1999 Internationalization of Capital and Unemployment Conference

Preface

Today, at the end of the 20th century, the monopoly capital from the United States, European countries and Japan are controlling the economies of nations all over the world. The monopoly capitalist backed by the imperialist powers have used international organizations, such as the WTO, the IMF and the APEC as tools to force globalization, liberalization and privatization upon nations in order to open up borders for trade and investment with the sole purpose of sucking dry the fruits of labor from working people of the world. Since the latest crisis of the international capitalist system that began in Asia in 1997, many more people in Asia have suffered unemployment, lost their homes, and have seen their lives devastated.

In the process of internationalization of capital, Taiwanese capitalists, though still in the minor league, have behaved just like any big capitalists elsewhere. Their mission is to serve the interests of capital by maximizing profit. They have done this by, on the one hand, investing in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam to take advantage of their lower wages. On the other hand, they got the government in Taiwan to import migrant workers for them. Both of these schemes are two parts of the same strategy, which is to suppress workers' wages and benefits here. We need to understand that migrant workers who had to leave home in order to earn a living suffer from the same root cause as the unemployed workers here. Both are the victims of the internationalization of capital and the liberalization and privatization that go with it. When the bosses pay migrant workers lower wages and no benefits, they are able to push down the wages and benefits of local workers. Therefore, the struggle to improve the working conditions for the migrant workers and for local workers is really the same struggle. The bosses want the domestic workers to compete with the migrant workers, so they can divide and rule. When the local workers understand that unless the migrant workers can win higher wages and better working conditions, their wages and benefits go down too. This understanding will unite local workers and migrant workers in their common struggle.

Common Understanding of the Conference

Through the two-day conference, we, from different groups, even some divisions happened during the two-day conference, still have the common understanding as following:

1. Tendencies of the reality nowadays

The internationalization promoted by the internationalization of capital is deepening the capitalist exploitation of labor in all sectors. Capitalism treats labor power as commodity, and migrant workers are its extreme presentation of The governments of these import/ export countries and the capitalists who hire migrants benefit from the transnational movement of laboring force; and as we have mainly discussed about Filipino workers, migrants are forced to work overseas because international capitals have promoted liberalization, deregulation and privatization and made the lives more difficult for them.

2. Main problems

In the importing countries, migrants have got no rights. They don't have any legal nor political rights as citizens, and as workers their deserved protections and rights are not equal to local ones. The present migrant worker’s policy of Taiwan government are unreasonable in many aspects; the process when making policies is not transparent and there is no worker’s participation; One of the most important problem is that migrants are not equal with locals in work, payment and rights.

3. What is to be done ?

The common enemy of local and migrant workers are transnational and local capitalists; They on one hand search for exploitation of labor as deep as possible, on the other hand try to disunite local and migrant workers to weaken the power if they unite together. Local workers should not discriminate migrants and should put it as an important demand that local and migrant workers share the same work, payment and rights. What we have to do first is to investigate the present situation, especially on the conditions of migrants and their roles in Taiwan economy and society; all groups with different opinions should continue to have dialogue, to promote labor movement. Any of the labor movements of local or migrant workers get strengthened would do much good to the other.

[Read More]

1999資本國際化與失業問題座談會

前言

在二十世紀末的今天，來自美國、歐洲國家和日本的壟斷資本控制著全世界所 有國家的經濟。被帝國主義所支撐的壟斷資本藉著國際性的組織，如世界貿易組 織（WTO）、國際貨幣基金（IMF）及亞太經合會（APEC），迫使其他國家實行 全球化、自由化和私有化，以突破貿易和投資的疆界，為的僅是滿足其榨乾全世 界工人階級勞動果實的目的。1997年，最近一次，開始於亞洲的國際資本主義體 系危機，使得亞洲的許多人面臨著失業的困境，家園的被破壞，甚至連基本生活 條件都嚴重地被摧毀。

在資本國際化的過程中，台灣的資本家們，雖然規模仍小，但已表現得像其他 大資本家一樣。他們的使命是用獲得最高利潤以滿足資本的利益。一方面，他們 透過對馬來西亞、印尼、泰國、菲律賓及越南等國的投資，以便利用當地的廉價 動力。另一方面，他們要台灣政府為他們開放"外籍"勞工的引進。這兩種方式， 皆是他們用以壓低台灣工人薪資及福利的方法。我們必須理解到，造成移住勞工 必須離鄉背井地求生活與台灣的失業問題，實源於同一個根本原因。移住勞工及 本地失業勞工，皆是資本全球化、自由化及私有化下的受害者。當資本家付給移 住勞工較低的工資且不予其福利時，他便同時壓低了本地勞工的薪資及福利。因 此，提高移住勞工勞動條件的抗爭，事實上和本地勞工爭取提升勞動條件是同一 個抗爭。資本家要本地勞工和移住勞工競爭，因此勞工們便會被分化而容易統治 。本地勞工應該瞭解到，除非移住勞工也贏得較高的薪資和較好的勞動條件，否 則他們自己的薪資與福利會同樣地下跌。而這樣的理解，便可將本地勞工與移住 勞工團結起來，為共同的目標而戰鬥。


會 議 共 識

經過兩天的會議，我們各方雖然在許多方面仍有不同的意見，但在下列方面我 們有初步的共識：


一、當前現實的趨勢

由資本所推動的國際化正在加深資本主義對各個部門勞工的剝削。資本主義已把 勞動商品化，且在資本國際化的狀況下，付出勞動的工人也都成為商品，而移住 勞工則是這種商品化的極端表現。輸出∕輸入國的政府以及雇用移住勞工的資本 家均受惠於勞動力的跨國移動，而移住勞工—在這個會議裡我們集中地討論了菲 律賓勞工—則由於國際資本在菲國所推動的自由化、去管制化與私有化，使得生 活更加困難而不得不成為移住勞工。


二、主要的問題

在輸入國中，移住勞工沒有任何權利；不具有公民在法律上、政治上諸權利， 而且移住勞工做為勞工所應得的保障與權利也遠遠不如本地勞工。當前台灣政府 的"外勞"政策存在著許多不合理之處，在政策制定的過程中完全是官資雙方的黑 箱作業，而沒有勞工的參與，最嚴重的問題之一則是移住勞工與本地勞工不能同 工、同酬、同權。

三、我們當前的工作

本地勞工與移住勞工的共同敵人是跨國資本家與當地的資本家，資本家一方面 力求儘量剝削工人的勞動，一方面企圖分化本地勞工與移住勞工以削弱工人團結 的力量。本地勞工對於移住勞工不應有歧視的態度，並且應把本勞與移住勞工同 工同酬同權當成重要的訴求。出路的第一步是針對現況、特別是移住勞工的處境 及其在台灣經濟社會中的角色，進行更深入的調查；各個勞工團體與社運團體應 繼續維持對話，以助勞工運動的發展。本地勞工的工運和移住勞工的工運任何一 方的強大，對於另一方都有很大的助益。

[Read More]

Editors' Note: Why do we use "migrant workers" instead of "foreign workers" ?

Why do we use "migrant workers" instead of "foreign workers" ? The latter term is often used to refer to the workers from other countries. However, the word "foreign" signifies alienation. Since our purpose is to promote understanding and solidarity, we chose the term "migrant workers." We believe that the use of term is important and hope the change of name is a start to develop mutual understanding.

[Read More]

編者的話：怎麼我們叫他們「移住勞工」呢？

原本大家都是叫這些遠從他鄉來的工人朋友們「外勞」。但，「外」勞、「外 」勞，就越叫越「外」了。既然我們的立場是，創造一個彼此瞭解與互動的空間，這些遠來的朋友，雖然不是「內人」，也不應該當他們是外人。大家都是勞工嘛！所以，在詢問和比較後，我們覺得「移住勞工」雖不中亦不遠矣！意思就是 ：移來台灣和我們暫時居住的勞工朋友。就像我們以「原住民」來正名一樣。我 們期待，稱呼的改變，會是拉近彼此瞭解的開始！

你覺得如何？

[Read More]