The government's draft amendment to the Labor Union Law (工會法), allowing workers to make their own decisions on joining workers' unions, sparked a debate yesterday between the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊) and representatives from workers' unions.
The Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (
In yesterday's conference, the workers' unions argued that the CLA's amendment giving workers more freedom to join workers' unions would diminish the current size and power of the unions.
"Giving workers complete freedom to decide whether to join the workers' unions would damage the current structure of the workers' unions. The employers' authority would be emphasized," said Chuang Miao-tze (
"The CLA's amendment that allows workers to decide whether to join workers unions ? gives us the impression that the CLA wants to break down the workers' unions' operations," said Lin Ming-hsien (
According to Article 12 of the current law, workers who are over 16 years old have an obligation to join his or her occupation's workers' union. The article, however, is considered a violation of human rights, according to a US government human-rights report.
Responding to the US government's charge, the CLA revised the article, stating that workers are entitled to decide whether to join workers' unions.
Defending the change, Chen said, "The CLA is looking for a balance between the reality and the ideal."
Chen explained that the CLA's amendment would actually be implemented three years after the amendment had been passed, allowing the unions time to adjust to the change.
According to the CLA, only about 30 percent of the employees in Taiwan are members of workers' unions, even though the current regulation requires employees to become a member of a union.
"There is no way for us to adapt to the changes in three years unless the CLA adopts appropriate measures to enhance the unions' membership," Chuang said.
Chuang emphasized that they would keep pushing the CLA not to revise the regulation without adopting appropriate supporting measures.
Meanwhile, the draft amendment to the law would also allow workers in the armed forces, civil service and the education sector to establish or join unions legally for the first time in Taiwan's history.
The formation of and membership of unions by workers in these three sectors has been illegal since 1929. Local labor unions had objected to the ban, citing the constitutional right of freedom of association and assembly.
The draft amendment to the Labor Union Law will be delivered to the Legislative Yuan with the amendments to the Collective Agreement Law (團體協約法) and the Labor Dispute Law (勞資爭議處理法) in the coming weeks.
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