Seafood company owners accused of exploiting workers

Staff writer, with CNA

Two owners of a seafood company in Pingtung County and three manpower brokers were indicted on Monday, after it was discovered that they had allegedly hired nine Indonesians to perform work not in line with their registered job description.

The company’s owners, only identified by their surnames, Chen (陳) and Chang (張), were also suspected of mistreating the Indonesian workers by deducting their wages, forcing them to work overtime and confiscating their passports, the Pingtung District Prosecutors’ Office said.

The indictment said that to circumvent a 15 percent quota on the employment of foreign workers, Chen and Chang in 2013 hired via two brokerage agencies the nine Indonesian workers, purportedly to work onboard the Yi Jung No. 16 fishing boat.

Instead of working on the boat, the Indonesians were assigned to unload fish at the company factory, where they had to cut, clean and pack them.

Chen and Chang were also found to have kept the foreign workers’ passports, ordering them to work overtime every day and punishing them with the deduction of wages whenever they failed to return to their dormitory by 9pm, according to the indictment.

The prosecutors’ office said the Indonesians each worked at least 80 hours of overtime per month.

Apart from a monthly wage of NT$19,000, they each received only about NT$2,000 in overtime pay each month.

The nine workers received a wage that did not match the labor they performed, the prosecutors said.

Chen, Chang and three manpower brokers were indicted on a charge of causing public officials to make a false entry in a public document.

Chen and Chang were also charged with violating the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (人口販運防制法).