掙脫鎖鏈的曙光：移工仲介過程的權力轉移

台灣自七十年代後期開放移工入台工作，至今已超過六十萬人。但近期頻頻傳出海外「缺工」消息，顯示與過去大量移工競爭少量工作機會的市場型態已然改變，並與過去研究的既有前提有所差異。本文欲了解的問題是，在東南亞來台勞動力供給逐漸短缺的壓力下，雇主與仲介所採行的應對策略為何？移工是否能翻轉過去近似「奴工」般的弱勢地位？本研究藉由參與觀察為主所蒐集的第一手資料，分析雇主、仲介、移工之間在招募過程與聘僱關係中的行動與策略。本研究發現，在市場型態的改變下，雇主、仲介與移工之間的權力槓桿相對平衡。相較於過去，移工來台的仲介費較低、等待時間較短、通過篩選來台機會提高、來台後被遣返機會降低、選擇委任仲介決策的影響力提升、且更能自主選擇多樣化的服務；仲介與雇主則需採取更多策略，提高移工來台或留台工作的意願。移工在移工仲介過程當中的權力相對提升，仲介與雇主的權力則相對弱化。儘管如此，移工的權力雖相對提升卻依舊受限。因此，雖移工的弱勢地位難以翻轉，但在移工與仲介、雇主之間，權力卻的確出現了轉移。

關鍵字

移工；仲介；雇主；策略；權力關係

並列摘要

Since the 1970s, the labor market openness approach adopted by the Taiwan's government has seen an influx of migrant workers flood into Taiwan. Hitherto, migrant workers contribute more than 600,000 of the total labor workforce in Taiwan. However, recent discussion continues to reveal that the issues of migrant labor shortage remains prominent in Taiwan society. Such finding has provided different perspective compared with the earlier studies, which stressed that a vast number of migrant workers generally face high level of competition to secure a limited employment opportunity in the labor market. This study aims to understand what the coping strategies of the employers and labor brokers to resolve the issues of Southeast Asian migrant labor workers shortage in Taiwan are. Simultaneously, this study also examines how migrant labor workers have responded and reacted upon the current employment constraints. By employing participant observation, this study explicates the negotiation between employers, brokers and migrant workers throughout the process of recruitment, as well as the strategies adopted by the employers and brokers to migrant workers for extending the contracts within the period of employment. The findings showed that the employers, labor brokers and migrant labor workers tend to obtain an equal power relation due to the supply shortage of the labor market. Compared with the past, migrant workers can now easily obtain job opportunities. They are requested to pay lower amount of brokers' fees and the waiting employment period has been shortened as well. Further to this, migrant labor workers are now protected from the repatriation threats, and could involve actively in the broker's selection process. On the other hand, nowadays, employers and broker have to exert more effort to attract a sufficient number of migrant labor workers in order to fulfill the labor market demand. It can be observed that while the bargaining power of migrant labor workers is increasing, the employers and labor brokers has gradually lost their advantaged position in the bargaining process. Despite to this, it is crucial to note that the increase of migrant workers' bargaining power is still limited. Undoubtedly, migrant workers have failed to subvert their marginal position in labor market, there is still a shift of power among employers, brokers and migration workers observed in this study.