Hundreds of parents from the Association of National Parents' Groups yesterday submitted a petition to the Legislative Yuan calling for the revocation of a 1999 amendment to the Teachers Law (教師法) that allows teachers in primary and secondary schools to form school branches of their unions.
They said the amendment has expanded teachers' power at the expense of students' rights.
The move comes as the Legislative Yuan prepares to give a second reading on Monday to proposed amendments that would further liberalize the law.
Chief representative of the parents' association Hsiao Hui-ying (蕭慧英) said the school branches damaged students' rights.
"We are strongly against the formation of teachers' unions at schools, which gives teachers the right to strike, let alone the proposal to give them the right to take leave regularly to attend to union affairs," Hsiao said.
Under the 1999 amendment, teachers at publicly funded primary and secondary schools are allowed to form their own unions for collective-bargaining purposes. A proposed amendment to the law which is to receive its second reading in the Legislative Yuan next Monday stipulates, among other things, that teachers participating in a union meeting may take official leave to do so, and have their weekly teaching hours reduced.
In that way, the parents said, students might be forced to face different substitute teachers constantly when teachers use the opportunity to attend meetings and that the costs will be paid for by the taxpayers.
Also, Hsiao said, "Teachers who join the union cannot avoid conflicts of interests. For example, they will be unable to reach impartial judgements on matters such as the dismissal of unsuitable teachers because shortcomings or flaws might be covered up."
Hsiao added that teachers' unions had first emerged as a result of demands for greater democracy within educational institutions during the authoritarian era. But as times have changed, she said, the unions should be constituted as national and county or city level organizations for negotiations with government, while school branches of unions should be abolished.
"The function of a school teachers' organization should be that of an association for professional development, rather than of that of a union that is so powerful it could obstruct the decisions of school authorities," Hsiao said.
Lin Wen-hu (
The gathering of parents from all over the country at the Legislative Yuan yesterday marked the first time that parents got together to protest what they called a "self-serving" educational policy demanded by teachers.
National Teachers' Association (NTA), which helped draft the amendments yesterday dismissed the parents' accusations
NTA Secretary-General Wu Chung-tai (
"In that way, the interests of the teachers' unions at school will not conflict with school authority. It would not even interfere with the operation of the schools, as the parents claim," Wu said.
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