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Regional RoundupHowever, different departments, from the central to thelocal governments and even CLA itself, have outsourcedjobs to the dispatching agencies for years; actually thegovernment is one of the biggest outsourcing employers.It is highly doubtful how well the new regulation willbe enforced.In a statement on 14 July, the nongovernmental LaborRights Association demanded that dispatched labour betotally banned from the public sector, and a clause beincluded to end the dispatching system altogether withintwo years.While labour law changes are ongoing, the unionmembers of the electronics company Young Fast Optoelectronics(YFO) have still been experiencing corporateimpunity in violating workers’ rights. The companymakes touch-panel screens, mainly for mobile phones.Due to various labour violations in the company, theworkers had formed a union (YFOTU) in December2009, but in March 2010, the company dismissed at leastfive union officers and 10 active union members.Violations at the company included illegal unionbustingdismissals on trumped-up premises; excessiveovertime child labour (in the name of internships, whichit also excessively uses); non-payment of overtime wages,and poor health and safety conditions.Because of the strong protests by the union as wellas solidarity organizations including trade unions, Servethe People Association, environmental organizations andstudent groups, the struggle of YFOTU got much mediaattention both locally and overseas.Finally, the company reinstated only one worker;yet the company still has been pressuring that workerand another union officer to accept a lump-sum payment(nearly US$10,000) and leave the company.YFOTU and the solidarity labour groups could notcompletely succeed in stopping the company’s anti-labourpractices, but did manage to restrict the company’suse of student interns. The CLA still has not enforcedthe law to freeze the company’s use of migrant labour– something which is in CLA’s power. On the other hand,due to the outstanding labour disputes and to protect theemployees’ rights, the CLA did oppose Young Fast’sproposed capital investment in China, when the InvestmentCommission, which approves Taiwanese outwardinvestments, consulted it on the matter.The anti-union attitude of YFO and impunity withwhich the company uses intern and migrant labour ischaracteristic of electronics-producing factories in mostof the countries of Asia; and the brands such as HTChave also characteristically denied responsibility for theproduction site working conditions.Another typical union-busting case in Taiwan inrecent months was the mass dismissal in Japan AirlinesDressed in bloody bandages to symbolize the worker victimsof Young Fast Optoelectronics’ brutal work conditionsand union-busting, the protesters marched on 23 July2010 from the Executive Yuan to the Control Yuan (amonitoring branch of the government), rolling like ballsto express how they have been tossed carelessly betweengovernment departments that take no responsibility forthem.The protesters’ petition was received at the Control Yuanbut so far there has still been no response.Photo: Lennon Wong(JAL), where 70 out of 140 local crew members weredismissed. Even though the government stated that thedismissal was illegal, JAL has never offered any compromise.Unions and federations support the JAL unionwhile the dispute still continues.Sources: Lennon Wong, Young Fast OptoelectronicsTrade Union; June Tsai, ‘Labor dispatch system ahidden worry for society’, Taiwan Today, 30 July 2010;Shelly Huang, ‘CLA opposes Young Fast’s Chinaplan’, Taipei Times, 26 July 2010.8ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE