>>Before she left the Philippines, Mary rejoiced at the $460 a month she would be earning in Taiwan; it was a princely sum, more than five times what she could make doing similar work, if she could even find it, in her own country. But once in Taiwan she began to realize that after the brokers' fees and other deductions, she would be left with almost nothing. Out of her monthly check came $215 to repay the Taiwanese broker, $91 for Taiwanese income tax, $72 for her room and board at the factory dorm, and $86 for a compulsory contribution to a savings bond she will get only if she completes her three-year contract. After 18 months she will have repaid the Taiwanese labor broker. But she still must contend with the Philippine debt and its rapidly compounding interest. "It is very painful for us to have to pay so much of our money," says Mary, who asked FORTUNE to change her name to protect her identity. "But we don't have a choice. We either have to take it or leave it." <<
fortune.com
IMO, this is downright modern slave "trade", and how come NO outcry from the human right activists in the US??? Just another example of the double standard in the US.
And the irony is quite a few so-called "democratic soldiers" from China now residing in the US or studying in the US elite universities like Princeton, or Harvard, are taking money, or were taking money from the Taiwanese gov. |
