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Young Fast employed illegal Chinese
workers: report
BY VINCENT Y. CHAO / STAFF REPORTER
A local publication yesterday revealed that a company that was found to have
illegally employed underage workers to make components for touchscreen
cellphones might also have been employing illegal Chinese workers at one of its
factories in Taiwan.
Young Fast Optoelectronics Co, a key supplier for HTC Corp and Samsung
Electronics, employed dozens of workers relocated from its factory in Huizhou,
Guangdong Province, since the middle of October last year, an investigation by
the Chinese-language Next Magazine showed.
The report, quoting unnamed former workers and labor union representatives,
claimed that most of the Chinese workers were involved in factory line
production and would often work 12-hour shifts under the cover of professional
training.
The allegations mean that Young Fast, one of the world¡¦s largest touchscreen
module makers, could be operating in contravention of labor laws that bar
Chinese laborers engaging in expert training from engaging in anything other
than observing or testing factory procedures.
¡§The Chinese laborers are very obedient ... They work in 12-hour shifts every
day and when the company has lots of orders, they will be especially singled out
for more overtime on Sundays,¡¨ an unnamed worker at Young Fast told the
magazine.
The Taoyuan-based company, which employs about 1,000 workers in Taiwan and 5,000
in China, posted record-high profits of NT$974 million (US$30.45 million) in the
second quarter this year, a 30 percent increase from the same period last year,
amid growing customer demand.
In a statement on its Web site, the firm denied the allegations, adding that the
workers were in Taiwan only for additional training. The program, the statement
said, followed procedures set out by government agencies.
¡§Young Fast sent employees from its overseas subsidiaries, including the Dahu
[also in Guangdong Province] and Huizhou factories in China, to engage in
studying and [learning],¡¨ the company wrote.
¡§[They] all applied legally and their program content was [planned] according to
the law,¡¨ it wrote.
This was not the first time Young Fast has drawn labor complaints from
disgruntled former employees and its union.
Earlier this year, the company was accused of labor violations ¡X including mass
layoffs of Taiwanese employees, a failure to pay for overtime work in addition
to illegally employing students under the age of 16 behind the guise of a
work-study program.
In April, an investigation by the Council of Labor Affairs confirmed that the
company had ordered its underage workers to be on duty for as many as 12 hours a
day without overtime pay.
Union officials said the -company attempted a mass cover-up when the incident
made the news prior to the investigation.
Young Fast could face a fine of as much as NT$1 million if found guilty of the
latest allegations.
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