This year's Labor Day in Taiwan was slightly different from that of previous years. Not only had the KMT-controlled Chinese Federation of Labor (CFL , 全總) split up as a result of the post-election fallout, but the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCTU, 全產總), which the Council for Labor Affairs once said could "never" achieve legal status, looks like it might just become an officially recognized organization. On May 1, the TCTU held a meeting to announce its official founding, with President-elect Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and the incoming and outgoing chairpersons of the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA, 委會) in attendance as well. Tectonic shifts in Taiwan's political geography have elevated the significance of the event.
After launching its first rally two years ago, the TCTU asked several times to be granted legal status, but the CLA refused, claiming it would violate Article 50 of Taiwan's Labor Union Law (which has not been revised for 25 years). The clause states that a national federation of labor unions require 21 or more provincial and special municipality unions or unions for specific industries.
Academics familiar with labor laws agree that the CLA is too strict in its interpretation of the clause. The reason is mainly political: the council was afraid that giving in to the TCTU's demands would offend the CFL, government ministries in charge of economics, and corporate leaders. The CLA also gauged correctly that the TCTU would not support the KMT.
The clause in question in still on the books, yet the CLA suddenly announced on the eve of Labor Day that it would declare the TCTU legal. This was the result of changes in the political environment. Those concerned about the future of the labor movement in Taiwan are of course optimistic about the prospects this development will create, but it should not be overlooked that the TCTU is only a confederation of individual unions. Whether labor movements in Taiwan will take off or not depends on the future government's stance towards loosening restrictions on trade unions.
The term "industrial union" (產業工會) in Taiwan is misleading, and actually refers to an "enterprise union," or a union of workers belonging to one particular work location. The membership of most of the 1,100 unions in Taiwan numbers just a few hundreds; only a few have more than 1,000 members. Their strength is thus not great and many unions are not taken seriously by their employer and are unable to actually improve working conditions. Union officials are thus beholden to the company boss, and suffer serious retaliation from corporations if they actually try to promote the workers' interests.
There is no legal basis for Taiwan's long-term treatment of "industrial unions" as "enterprise unions." The original purpose of Taiwan's Labor Union Law -- a relic of the Martial Law period -- was designed to prevent the growth and influence of labor unions, but Article 6 of the law allows for the existence of regional or industrial union groupings in addition to enterprise unions. If this part of the law is put into practice, it could lead to the merging of many unions in a single city or county into a single industrial union, which would be on a scale larger than even the modified version of "enterprise unions" proposed by the CLA in its proposed revisions to the Labor Union Law. However, the Labor Department under the Ministry of the Interior in the past never acknowledged such unions, based on the "implementation guidelines" of the 25-year-old Labor Union Law which do not mention regional industrial unions. Even though the "implementation guidelines" are subordinate to the actual Labor Union Law itself, the government has continued to ignore the law. Taiwan's rulers have always feared the emergence of real unions.
I am not optimistic that Chen Chu (陳菊) will be able to force the government to act "according to the law" after she takes up the position of chairperson of the CLA. One reasons is that trade unions only exist in 4 percent of enterprises in Taiwan, even though the Labor Union Law in Taiwan calls for compulsory participation in trade unions. Many well-known firms -- including enterprise groups associated with the DPP -- do not permit their workers to form unions, and would be even more aggressive against the formation of regional union groupings. One of Chen Chu's greatest challenges will be to pressure employers to allow democratic unions to form in their workplaces.
Huang Juei-min is assistant professor at National Chung Cheng University's Department of Labor Relations.
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