In recent years, the growing popularity of English has attracted an influx of foreigners to Taiwan's teaching market; however, the number of foreign teachers stuck with difficult contracts is also growing.

Taiwan International Workers' Association (TIWA/台灣國際勞工協會), Taiwan's first non-governmental organization representing foreign workers, has been fighting for immigrant workers' rights for the past ten years.

Since last year, TIWA has been inundated with phone calls from foreign English teachers who were facing a number of problems regarding their teaching contracts and employers. The increasing amount of cases and phone calls spotlights the eroding of foreign teachers' rights.

In addition to catering to the needs of Southeast Asian blue-collar laborers whose rights are being trampled, TIWA is also putting more effort into helping white-collar workers, such as English teachers who work in private language institutes.

According to Wu Jing-ru (吳靜如), the secretary-general of TIWA, an increasing number of foreign English teachers simply endure the problems in their teaching contracts. A large number of foreign workers have no choice but to stay with their employers and sacrifice their rights.

Remaining silent or tight-tipped seems to have become an unwritten rule among the workers.

"The very first problem foreign workers usually come across is the contract, which oftentimes is written only in Chinese," Wu told The China Post in a Nov. 26 interview. The contracts are supposed to be bilingual, but most of the foreigners sign a Chinese version because they consider the contract to simply be paperwork, Wu said.

However, problems continue to arise when employers fail to honor their contracts.

"Teachers do not receive adequate working hours from employers and do not get full salary; these are usually the cases that happen in Taiwan," Wu said."In addition to that, other difficulties foreigners might face are from previous employers. Even though those teachers have already landed a new job, some previous employers may still do something to deter them from starting their new job," Wu added.

When asked what is one of the worst situations for a foreign cram school teacher in Taiwan, Wu took a deep breath and said that sometimes Taiwan employers ask foreign teachers to work before they receive their work permits; in this case, foreigners are working illegally. "They can be kicked out of the country because of this and have a tainted record," Wu added.

Foreigners who are forced to leave the country or choose to quit in order to solve workplace problems are feeding a vicious cycle which may cause widespread social ramifications.

In an effort to promote foreign teachers' rights in Taiwan as well as to offer other useful information, TIWA will invite representatives from the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) and National Immigration Agency (NIA) to speak on the issues at an upcoming seminar in Taipei.

To receive and exchange information with fellow teachers would be helpful and important, especially for foreigners who work and live in Taiwan, Wu said.

"If foreign workers are in need, TIWA will definitely be there for them," Wu added.

"In my opinion, if Taiwan wanted to be a real international country, human rights should be protected and emphasized. Any problems that deprive people of rights must be addressed as soon as possible," Wu said firmly.

The free seminar slated for Dec. 6 will spotlight the rights and regulations for white-collar workers and bushiban teachers in Taiwan, especially workers' duties and requirements for residency and work permits.

A Q&A session is scheduled after the seminar between participants and invited guests. For those interested in attending, e-mail your name, phone number and questions to tiwa@tiwa.org.tw or contact Wu at (02) 2595-6858.

From 1:30p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Dec. 6 (Sun.) / White collar migrant workers, foreign bushiban teachers' rights and regulations / 9th floor meeting room at 9F. No.2 Sec. 1 Zhongshan N. Rd., Taipei City / http://www.tiwa.org.tw/