After a long wait, teachers in Taiwan officially established their national trade union yesterday after a legal revision that took effect on May 1 finally allowed teachers to unionize.
The National Teachers’ Union (NTU), a successor of the National Teachers’ Association formed 12 years ago, pledged in its inaugural statement to help open a new era in the country’s education system while seeking better protection for teachers’ rights.
However, the amended Labor Union Act (工會法) does not allow teachers’ unions to stage strikes, unlike workers in other industries.
Council of Labor Affairs Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) said this provision was mainly to ensure that the right to education for students will not be compromised.
Wang said the NTU was the first step to better protect the basic rights of teachers and that teachers can seek to resolve their disputes with management by way of arbitration.
“In the long run, teachers may one day be given the right to strike,” Wang said.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that teaching has been a “profession of conscience” and that teachers’ rights and well-being should be better protected with the establishment of unions.
He expressed the hope that teachers’ unions could serve as the promoters of a harmonious relationship between management and labor, rather than an adversarial one, so that education could become a driving force for national development.
In a press statement, Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said the NTU would serve as a platform for dialogue within the education sector.
She pledged that her party would fully cooperate with teachers’ unions in cultivating the next generation of talent for the country if she wins the presidency.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
RSS