In Taiwan’s ‘container houses’ for migrant workers, coronavirus not the only health risk

While Taiwan has avoided a huge outbreak, activists doubt the government’s readiness to protect migrant workers, some of whom live in dorms of 30 people a room

Aside from the coronavirus, packed dorms located within factory grounds leave workers at risk of fire hazards

Reading Time:3 minutes

A picture of a dorm in Taichung provided by a migrant worker to the Taiwan International Workers Association. Photo: TIWA

Published: 2:00pm, 26 Apr 2020Updated: 2:23pm, 26 Apr 2020

As Singapore sees a surge in coronavirus infections among its low-wage migrant worker community, questions have been raised about the living conditions of other workers doing jobs shunned by residents in developed Asian societies.

In Taiwan, there are more than 718,000 blue-collar migrant workers. The highest number – nearly 280,000, or about 40 per cent of the migrant worker community – comes from Indonesia, followed by Vietnam (221,400), the Philippines (158,700) and Thailand (58,700). They mostly work in the manufacturing and caregiving sectors, as well as agriculture, forestry and fishing.

So far, Taiwan’s migrant worker force has managed to stay relatively free of coronavirus infections.

There was only one confirmed case among the community – an Indonesian undocumented worker announced in February as the island’s 2nd case. Since then, there have been no new reports of infection among migrant workers.

Taiwan’s migrant worker living conditions vary among job categories. A boarding house for factory workers typically has four to eight people in one room, but in some cases, more than 30.

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