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Article: LABOR-MALAYSIA: FISHING BOAT WORKERS BATTLE EXPLOITATION AT SEA
- Article from:
- Inter Press Service English News Wire
- Article date:
- February 27, 2002
- Author:
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PENANG, Feb. 27 (IPS) -- Rugged and tan from exposure to the
tropical sun, Pepe and his friends speak in a surprisingly gentle
tone about the woes that come with their jobs as fishing boat
workers.
While on shore leave here in the northern Malaysian city of
Penang, waiting for their next assignment on the next fishing
boat to call, these Filipino workers talk ruefully of how some
boat owners and agents rake in fat commissions off their wages.
But beneath the workers' congeniality, their resentment is
palpable. "Our (Malaysian) agent's wife used to drive an old
car," observes Pepe. "Now she has a Mercedes."
In a situation where foreign migrant ...