Ahead of the legislature’s scheduled review today and tomorrow of a bill on whether teachers can form unions, the National Teachers Association (NTA) yesterday publicized a letter from Education International (EI) calling on the government to respect teachers’ right to organize labor unions.
The English letter was written by Fred van Leeuwen, secretary-general of EI — a global federation of teachers representing more than 30 million members in 171 countries — and addressed to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Copies of the letter were sent to Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), Minister of Education Cheng Jei-cheng (鄭瑞城), Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and UNESCO.
“EI is concerned that the draft union law currently tabled at the Parliament will actually continue to exclude teachers from the fundamental right to form and join trade unions,” the letter said.
“This means that the Government is actually restricting the rights of those it directly employs,” it said.
EI was referring to a proposed amendment to the Labor Union Act (工會法) that would bar teachers from forming a labor union at the school level.
If the bill passed the legislature, teachers would for the first time in the nation’s history be allowed to establish labor unions — except at the school level.
The NTA has criticized the bill and called the proposal “discriminatory” and “hostile” to labor unions.
The legislature also passed a proposed amendment to the Settlement of Labor-Management Dispute Act (勞資爭議處理法) on Friday prohibiting teachers from going on strike.
“We invite the Parliament to consider providing all teachers of Taiwan, R.O.C. the right to form and join trade unions, as prescribed by international labour standards,” the letter said.
EI said it would continue to monitor Taiwanese teachers’ right to form labor organizations.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
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