Four candidates running for director of the Taipei Labor Department yesterday pledged their support to the nation’s teachers to have the right to conduct strikes.
With a shared background in labor rights activism, the four candidates rank among 23 qualified participants in Taipei mayor-elect Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) unconventional plan to invite public participation in appointing the department’s future director, which has traditionally been an appointed position.
Although the nation’s teachers have had the right to unionize since 2010, current regulations prohibit teachers from conducting strikes, National Federation of Teachers’ Unions president Chang Hsu-cheng (張旭政) said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Teachers’ unions face challenges on their collective bargaining rights from the Ministry of Education, as well as skepticism from parent’s associations, Chang said.
“Teachers’ rights to unionize are constantly restricted by school administrators on the grounds of protecting students’ rights to education,” Chang said.
“Many public-sector employees face restrictions to their labor rights,” Chang said. “Firefighters and policeofficers are still fighting for their rights to unionize.”
The four candidates who expressed support for the teachers’ unions are Raging Citizens Act Now secretary-general Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶); Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions secretariat Shieh Tsuan-chih (謝創智); Soochow University professor Hu Po-yen (胡博硯); and former National Taiwan University Labor Union secretary-general Kenny Lin (林凱衡).
Hu said public agencies in the municipal government should all have the right to unionize and engage in collective bargaining under Ko’s administration, adding that the future director of labor should aid teachers in their negotiations with the Department of Education.
“I think we should promote education on teachers’ labor rights,” Shieh said.
“If there actually comes a day when teachers’ unions stage a strike, it would most likely be in reaction to significant problems within our government, and would act as an opportunity to pursue reform in the educational system,” Shieh said.
A series of discussions on the legacy of martial law and authoritarianism are to be held at the Taipei International Book Exhibition this month, featuring findings and analysis by the Transitional Justice Commission. The commission and publisher Book Republic organized the series, entitled “Escaping the Nation’s Labyrinth of Memory: What Authoritarian Symbols and Records Can Tell Us,” to help people navigate narratives through textual analysis and comparisons with other nations. The four-day series is to begin on Thursday next week with a discussion between commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠), Polish-language translator Lin Wei-yun (林蔚昀), and Polish author and artist Pawel Gorecki comparing
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