Taiwan: Vietnamese & Thai workers subcontracted on Samsung C&T & RSEA's new airport build tell of fee-charging, abusive practices as a quarter prefer undocumented work
Summary
Date Reported: 2 Jul 2024
Location: Taiwan
Companies
Korea National Pension Fund - Other Value Chain Entity , Taoyuan International Airport Corp. - Operation , Samsung C&T - Other Value Chain Entity , RSEA Engineering - Employer , Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) - Other Value Chain Entity , BlackRock - Other Value Chain Entity , Vanguard - Other Value Chain Entity , Dimensional Fund Advisors - Other Value Chain EntityAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Vietnam , Construction , Gender not reported , Documented migrants ) , Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Thailand , Construction , Gender not reported , Documented migrants )Issues
Recruitment Fees , Forced Labour & Modern Slavery , Intimidation , Contract Substitution , Denial of leave , Harassment (other than sexual) , Protection from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile , Restricted mobility , Access to Information , Access to Non-Judicial RemedyResponse
Response sought: Yes, by Journalist
External link to response: (Find out more)
Action taken: Samsung C&T, the government’s main contractor, and member of Korea’s biggest corporate group, said that it “is not involved in recruitment of migrant workers and were not provided with the details of the recruitment contract between local recruiters and workers in advance.” The Korean multinational requires all business partners to adhere to its policies, including human rights protections, and it “conducts annual labor and human right inspections to identify human right risks, establish mitigation and improvement plan and monitor implementation status.” Samsung did not disclose if its annual inspections at the Taiwanese airport site had identified human rights risks, and it did not acknowledge the forced labor risks among the migrant workforce, but said that it “will try every effort to improve recruitment and management processes for migrant workers and monitor improvements.” The Veterans Affairs Council, which holds shares in RSEA, confirmed that RSEA hires migrants via an intermediary agency and stressed that it “only holds a minority stake in RSEA (less than 10 percent) and neither recommend managerial positions nor possess decision-making authority.” The journalist reached out to the investors named in the article. The Norwegian pension fund said it would look into the forced labour risks connected to its investees. “With respect to ethical recruitment, we agree with the Employer Pays Principle and that recruitment fees should be reimbursement of when they have been unfairly charged to workers,” a spokesperson said.
Source type: News outlet
Photo: zhaojiankang from Getty Images Pro, sourced from Canva
"Migrant Workers Pay Sky-high Fees to Expand Taiwan’s Biggest Airport,"
...
Migrant workers at the construction site [for Taiwan's international airport in Taoyuan] soon found themselves facing multiple forced labor risks that a decade of preparations and a multibillion-dollar budget apparently didn’t plan for. Interviewees said they were working under “very high debt” paid to recruiters for jobs and also complained about deceptive Taiwanese labor brokers and punitive management. Over 500 migrants have fled the site, becoming undocumented workers...
All 12 Vietnamese men The Diplomat interviewed said they borrowed most or all the $4,300 to $5,700 they paid in recruitment fees. Some were still indebted at the time of the interviews. Every colleague they knew also incurred debt to pay recruiters, they said...
On top of their debts, the construction workers also paid monthly service fees to Taiwanese labor brokers, corresponding to two months of pay per three-year contract, which is unavoidable for workers...
Workers spoke about threats, harassment, and punishment with fines of 3,000 to 5,000 NTD ($92 to $155) or a few days off without pay. Other types of punishment included deportation, which can be imposed, for example, if workers fight or receive three warning letters. Several interviewees mentioned continuous deportation threats by supervisors.
... The lead contractors, Samsung C&T from Korea and its Taiwanese partner RSEA Engineering, began construction in 2021 as a joint venture...
All interviewees believed they were employed by Samsung, since recruiters had told them so, and the workers wore Samsung-logo uniforms at work. However, the Chinese-language employer name on their Alien Residence Cards translates to RSEA Engineering, the local partner of Samsung. The workers can’t read Chinese. The 25 payslips and attendance lists shared with The Diplomat by workers contain no employer names, but Samsung’s name and logo appeared prominently on wall-to-wall banners at events held by recruiters in Vietnam, some interviewees said. This is confirmed by videos and photos on Facebook and on recruitment agency websites...
Samsung C&T, the government’s main contractor, and member of Korea’s biggest corporate group, said that it “is not involved in recruitment of migrant workers and were not provided with the details of the recruitment contract between local recruiters and workers in advance.”...
Taiwan’s government is one of the ultimate owners of the private firm RSEA Engineering, because a government agency holds shares in RSEA, Samsung’s construction partner on the airport site. The agency, the Veterans Affairs Council, confirmed that RSEA hires migrants via an intermediary agency and stressed that it “only holds a minority stake in RSEA (less than 10 percent) and neither recommend managerial positions nor possess decision-making authority.”...
Some of the world’s biggest government-owned pension funds invest in Giant Manufacturing, Samsung C&T, and L&K Engineering, the parent of RSEA Engineering...
Some of the world’s biggest private investors, including BlackRock, Vanguard and Dimensional, also own shares in both Taiwanese manufacturers Giant Manufacturing and L&K Engineering (parent of RSEA_, while JP Morgan, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Schroder, Hermes, and the Royal Bank of Canada hold Giant shares, too...
[Following the posting of this article, the Resource Centre received a statement from Federated Hermes, which had been linked to Giant Manufacturing: “We previously had a small equity holding in Giant Manufacturing, which we have fully divested from based upon the fund's ESG criteria, which the company no longer meets”.]