Civic groups call for labor laws to cover foreign fishing crews

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/30
By: Chen Chun-hua and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, May 30 (CNA) Several civic groups, including Greenpeace Taiwan, appealed to the government on Monday to include foreign fishery workers under the Labor Standards Act so that their basic rights and interests can be protected.

Greenpeace Taiwan ocean project manager Yen Ning (顏寧) said at a press conference at the Legislative Yuan that the existing Fisheries Act does not give foreign nationals working on Taiwanese fishing boats any protections.

Yen argued that because ships and aircraft are regarded as extensions of a country, workers hired in foreign countries to serve on Taiwanese deep-sea fishing boats should also be protected by labor laws covering people in Taiwan.

Echoing Yen’s appeal, Yilan Migrant Fishermen Union secretary-general Lee Li-hua (李麗華) said commercial fishing in the deep sea is a vital economic lifeline for Taiwan and is supported by more than 20,000 foreign fishery workers.     [FULL  STORY]