Taiwan
The ITUC affiliate in Taiwan is the Chinese Federation of Labour (CFL).
Legal
Freedom of association / Right to organise
Freedom of association
The right to freedom of association is regulated by law.
Anti-Union discrimination
The law prohibits anti-union discrimination.
Categories of workers prohibited or limited from forming or joining a union, or from holding a union office
- Other civil servants and public employees
- The Civil Servants' Association Law allows civil servants the right to organise professional associations, which do not in any way equate to trade unions. Under the Teachers' Law, teachers may also form associations but not trade unions. Defence industry workers, firefighters, doctors and medical personnel are not permitted to form and join unions.
- Non-national or migrant workers
- Migrant workers can join trade unions, but only Taiwanese citizens may hold leadership positions.
Right to collective bargaining
Right to collective bargaining
The right to collective bargaining is recognised by law.
Right to strike
Right to strike
The right to strike is recognised by law but strictly regulated.
Barriers to lawful strike actions
- Other excessively complex or time-consuming formalities to call a strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike - The Labour Union Law and the Settlement of Labour Disputes Law prescribe extensive procedures for reaching employer/workers agreement in the case of labour problems and conflicts. Failing that, a long procedure must be followed prior to calling a strike.
- Compulsory recourse to arbitration
arbitration
A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.
See conciliation, mediation , or to long and complex conciliation conciliation An attempt by a neutral third party, a conciliator, to aid the settling of an industrial dispute by improving communications, offering advice and interpreting issues to bring the disputing parties to a point where they can reconcile their differences. The conciliator does not take as active a role as a mediator or an arbitrator.
See arbitration, mediation and mediation mediation A process halfway between conciliation and arbitration, in mediation a neutral third party assists the disputing parties in reaching a settlement to an industrial dispute by suggesting possible, non-binding solutions.
See arbitration, conciliation procedures prior to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike actions - The Settlement of Labour Disputes Law authorises the government to impose conciliation or arbitration procedures, and the law forbids workers and employers from disturbing the “work routine”, either through strikes or employer retaliation measures, while such a procedure is taking place.
Undermining of the recourse to strike actions or their effectiveness
- Excessive civil or penal sanctions for workers and unions involved in non-authorised strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike actions - The Settlement of Labour Disputes Law imposes severe fines on workers who resort to a strike while a conciliation or arbitration procedure is taking place.
Limitations or ban on strikes in certain sectors
- Undue restrictions for “public servants”
- Teachers are not allowed to take strike action, nor are defence industry workers, firefighters, doctors and medical personnel.
In practice
On 21 October 2019, the president of the Yilan Migrant Fishermen’s Union (YMFU), Wardino, resigned from his position, clearly under duress.
The union had been side-lined and criticised after it compiled a dossier of evidence of human rights violations in the Taiwanese fishing industry. Then the Nanfang’ao Bridge collapsed on 1 October 2019, falling onto fishing vessels in the harbour below injuring many fishermen and resulting in at least six deaths. In the aftermath of the collapse, the YMFU and the Legal Aid Foundation were prevented from discussing the possibility of legal representation with the families of deceased and injured migrant fishermen.
On 17 October, the Su’ao District Fishermen’s Association demanded that the YMFU president encourage fellow Indonesian migrant fishermen to denounce the trade union. Those unwilling to do so would be denied bonus pay. The protests failed to materialise, and the Fishermen’s Association continued to harass Wardino. The following day, the director of the Yilan County Labour Affairs Department led a visit to the migrant fishermen in Nanfang’ao. During the visit, Labour Affairs Department officials “casually discussed” recent controversies involving the Su’ao District Fisherman’s Association and the YMFU with Wardino.
During that visit Wardino “agreed” to resign. Labour Affairs Department staff were instructed to assist with his resignation, including with translation services. Then, on 21 October, the chairman of the Fisherman’s Association invited Wardino to his office, where he officially declared his resignation from the union.
The YMFU subsequently filed a request with the Control Yuan to initiate an investigation into the conduct of the labour department officials. In response, the Su’ao District Fishermen’s Association went to the District Prosecutor’s office to sue YMFU secretary-general Allison Lee for defamation related to comments made following the Nanfang’ao Bridge collapse.
EVA Airlines retaliated against the organisers of a 20-day strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
which began in June 2019 by firing the director of the Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union (TFAU), Kuo Chi-yen, two days after the end of the strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
, and bringing a lawsuit against union leaders, seeking damages of NT$34 million (US$1.09 million) for what it claimed was an illegal strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
mobilised by the union.
More than 2,300 cabin crew were involved in the strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
, demanding better benefits and working conditions, particularly for overtime on roundtrip flights, which can stretch to more than 12 hours. In an agreement reached on 6 July, the company reportedly conceded a bonus for short flights of $NT300, and a bonus for transoceanic flights of $NT500. EVA flight attendants also secured the right to take overnight rests from March to June on several routes to Tokyo and one flight route to Beijing. Many of the flight attendants’ original demands were not met, including overnight rests on other routes, the raising of the hourly wage on international flights and double time for public holidays.
The airline failed to respect the terms of the agreement, however, prompting a protest rally by TFAU in early September in front of the Ministry of Labour in Taipei. In addition to not respecting the agreement, which included a non-retaliation clause, the airline maintained its lawsuit against the union and demanded that TFAU representative Liao Yi-chin and deputy secretary Chou Sheng-kai be also held responsible for helping organise the strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
.
A group of Vietnamese migrant workers at a food company in New Taipei City lodged a complaint with the city government in May 2019, alleging employer retaliation against a protest earlier in the month. Over 70 Vietnamese migrant workers staged a protest outside the headquarters of Mei Ti Foodstuff – a food company renowned for its bread and Western pastries – in Xizhi District on the 3rd of May, demanding the company pay them for working overtime and reimburse unlawful deductions from their monthly pay checks.
The rally drew help from the city government’s Labour Affairs Department and as a result, a settlement agreement was signed by the two sides under which the company agreed to compensate its Vietnamese employees for working overtime and return money deducted over the past two years.
According to the labour department, the migrant workers complained they had worked an average 16-18 hours a day without rightful remuneration. The employer was also accused of making unreasonable deductions from their wages by finding fault with their work.
Despite the settlement agreement, it was reported that the company plans to lay off five Vietnamese migrant workers, including several of the protest leaders. The company asked the five workers if they are willing to transfer to a new employer or plan to return to Vietnam, according to a city official familiar with the matter.
Following what the Vietnamese employees considered to be retaliation on the part of the employer, they filed a complaint with the city government and staged a protest.
On Tuesday, while accepting their complaint, Liao Wu-hui, a division chief at the city’s Labour Affairs Department, stressed that the department guarantees foreign workers’ work rights in New Taipei and will not allow the company to retaliate against its workers.
On 20 May 2019, Meidi Shipin Limited Corporation fired five factory workers who were seen as the key organisers of a strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
held on 3 May.
The workers went on strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
in protest at being made to work between 16 and 18 hours a day while not receiving overtime pay. Overtime hours were removed from the record by management. The strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
, in which 74 of the factory’s 79 workers participated, ended the same day with managers promising to pay overtime compensation by 15 May.
Management did not keep its promises. Workers were not reimbursed for the overtime wages they were owed. On the original deadline of 15 May, management stated that they would delay payment for three days. By 19 May, workers had still not been paid, and management said they would delay payment for another ten days. Furthermore, there was no decrease in orders, and indeed workers continued to be made to work up to eighteen hours a day. On 20 May, however, management sacked the five organisers, claiming it was due to a fall in orders, which was demonstrably untrue. This triggered a further strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
and protest action, with strong support from the Taiwan International Workers’ Association (TIWA
Hendrick Lui, a Hong Kong activist who came to Taiwan to join and support Taiwanese protesting against the amendments to the Labour Standards Act, was detained at a Taiwan airport for four hours before being permitted to enter into the country.
Ten union leaders and students as well as four lawyers accompanying them were arrested late on 23 December 2017 during a protest against harmful changes to labour legislation.
The proposed changes to the Labour Standards Act included a reduction in the mandatory break time between shifts, an increase in legal overtime and a reduction in overtime pay. Ten thousand protesters from trade unions, student organisations and labour groups gathered on 23 December to march to the Executive Yuan, the executive branch of government, to express their opposition to the reforms. They were met by police in riot gear who had cordoned off part of the route, confining the protestors and breaching their right of way. After minor clashes the crowd partially breached the police line and got through to a major intersection where protest leaders addressed the crowd.
Many participants dispersed after this but some remained, determined to deliver their message to the executive. They changed route several times, as they were turned away by police, and ten union leaders and students were arrested after protesters blocked the key intersection near Taipei main railway station. The protestors then found themselves encircled by hundreds of riot police and confined in one space for over an hour. Finally, all remaining protesters were forcefully dragged onto police buses and later dropped off summarily in surrounding suburbs.
During the protests, four lawyers present to represent protesters and mediate between the protesters and the police were detained on unclear grounds by the police but were released at the end of the night.
Since 2010, teachers have the legal right to join unions and enter into collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
with their employers. However, collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
can only take place at industry and professional level and teachers are not permitted to enter into collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
at their workplace. Moreover, the Labour Union Act determines that unions must represent 50 per cent of all workers in the industry in order to qualify for collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
. Currently, the union does not reach 50 per cent.
In 2011, the Ministry of Education asked municipal and county authorities to bargain with trade unions in public sector education which are eligible. Another directive issued by the Ministry in 2013 further requested the commitment of the bureaus to bargain in good faith with the unions. However, a functioning system of collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
for teachers in Taiwan has still to be established.
The right of teachers’ unions to represent members in labour dispute
labour dispute
See industrial dispute
cases, particularly in public education institutions, is also restricted. Article 3 of Act for Settlement of Labor Management Disputes excludes disputes which shall be resolved through administrative remedies from the regular labour dispute
labour dispute
See industrial dispute
resolution mechanism.
The teachers’ unions may only represent their members in the private sector for labour dispute
labour dispute
See industrial dispute
resolution and civil litigation, except on disputes related to appraisals, promotions and alteration of employment contract. Nevertheless, the CLA makes it clear that its mandate to adjudicate unfair labour practices is not restricted by the above provision and that it will handle disputes of public school teachers on a case-by- case basis. Under the above restrictions, teachers’ unions are unable to discuss and negotiate with the Ministry of Education over the revision of the Teachers’ Act regarding teachers’ appraisal mechanism and its unilateral application by school authorities.
On 1 April 2013, the Ministry of Labour registered the Labour Union of the National University (LUNU), which consists of full-time research assistants, contract staff, and part-time student workers. The CLA certified the union for collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
on 11 April 2013. Management opposed this decision, but the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled in favour of the union on 7 November 2013. LUNU and the Taiwan Higher Education Union (THEU) filed a complaint with the Bureau of Labour Insurance against fourteen colleges and universities requesting the school authorities to provide social insurance for precarious workers. According to a survey released by the THEU in September 2013, more than eighty percent of the part-time researchers and assistants were excluded from social insurance coverage in the tertiary education institutions.
In certain cases labour-management conferences are abused by employers in order to undermine genuine collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
. Labour-management conferences are a joint labour-management consultation system, comprised of an equal number of representatives from labour and management. In companies with no trade union, this system allows managers to conduct the election of workers’ representatives. Decisions are made by consensus or by absolute majority vote of the present representatives and are binding. The labour-management conference’s mandate covers matters related to labour relations, welfare, working conditions and productivity. The Labour Standards Act requires the prior consent of the trade union or the labour-management conference if there is no trade union before the employer may allocate the standard working hours to other work days and extend the working hours within the total allowable number of working hours, or put female workers on overnight shifts without paying overtime compensation.
The trade union at Mandarin Daily News filed a complaint with the CLA against management for illegally dismissing its officer Wang Fu-jun after the union had requested negotiations concerning the retrenchment of 44 workers in August 2013. Union members who challenged this decision and entered into negotiations with management were demoted. Workers who testified in favour of Wang during the CLA investigation were also demoted. On 26 February 2014, the CLA ordered the reinstatement of Wang, but the company decided to appeal against the decision at the Civil Court.
It is unclear whether agency workers have the right to join unions and enter into collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
at the company where they have been hired. In May 2013, there were 590,000 agency workers in Taiwan.
The CLA has produced a draft Agency Workers Protection Act on 6 February 2014 for review by the Executive Yuan. The draft seeks to limit the use of agency work to three per cent of the total number of employees in the enterprise for most occupations. Unions have criticised the draft law for recognising agency work. At the moment, agency workers are not covered by decisions of the labour-management conference and may be required to perform overtime work without extra pay.
Workers employed at Carrefour stores work seven hours a day without a paid lunch break and two hours overtime without pay. When workers requested to start negotiations concerning flexible working hours at the Shulin branch, management argued that working hours were determined by the labour-management conference. The company was unable to produce proof of an agreement at the labour-management conference. In 2013, the union filed a complaint asking the CLA to determine whether an agreement had been reached in the labour-management conference that was still valid. Moreover, the union argued that referring disputes to the labour-management conference was undermining recourse to collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
.
On 6 February 2014, the CLA prohibited Carrefour to use decisions of the labour-management conference to enforce its working-hour scheme. However, the decisions of the labour-management conference remain legally ambiguous, which can lead to abuses when it comes to negotiating collective agreements concerning issues that are part of a decision of the labour-management conference.
Union members employed at Kingcar Group protested against anti-union discrimination
anti-union discrimination
Any practice that disadvantages a worker or a group of workers on grounds of their past, current or prospective trade union membership, their legitimate trade union activities, or their use of trade union services. Can constitute dismissal, transfer, demotion, harassment and the like.
See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
at the company on 27 July 2013. Management sent warnings and threats to workers in order to prevent them from joining the union. Workers who still joined were given assignments which were less paid than the assignments of non-union members. Moreover, the company refused to negotiate working hours and compensation payments for employment injuries with the union.
In January 2013, the trade union at the company Achem Technology Corporation filed a complaint with the Council of Labour Affairs (CLA) concerning unfair labour practices against three trade unionists who had informed workers about the cut of the end-of-year bonus and the retrenchment plan. Achem was laying off workers under a voluntary retirement scheme and re-hiring them under new employment contracts paying them only 70 per cent of their previous salaries. Management suspended the three union officers and locked them out of the workplace in March 2013. On 15 April 2013, their employment contracts were terminated. However, the CLA ruled that the union officers must be reinstated and compensated for the period they were out of work. The union believes that the CLA should impose dissuasive sanctions against employers in such situations.
A union officer at Yung Hwa factory owned by Kayaba Industry Co. Ltd and four union officers at Taiwan Airport Service Co. Ltd were dismissed by their employers in January and June 2012. The Council of Labour Affairs ordered the reinstatement of the dismissed workers, but management is not complying with this decision.
In January 2012, the Department of Labour in Taipei City declared that Master/PhD candidates employed as research and teaching staff by the National Taiwan University did not have the right to pursue collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
with the National Taiwan University (NTU) because they did not have an employment relationship with the NTU. The Council of Labour Affairs asked the Department to review its decision in November 2012.
Although the revised Labour Union Act has no restriction prohibiting agency workers from joining or organising
organising
The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one.
a trade union, the Collective Bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
Act has no provision including agency workers under the scope of a collective agreement.
After years of waiting, the legislative amendments that came into force on 1 May allowed the creation of an education union. The National Federation of Teachers’ Unions (NFTU) was born, replacing the National Teachers’ Association created 12 years earlier, with 80,000 members. Teachers do not have the right to strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
, however.
The law is in force in the two Export Processing Zones of Kaohsiung and Taichung but the inspectors rarely intervene because they are largely controlled by an authority under the supervision of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Even if the 1929 law on trade unions prohibits anti-trade union discrimination, it does not provide for penalties in case of the wrongful dismissal of leaders or members of trade unions. Many trade unionists are amongst the first to be dismissed during a restructuring or are dismissed for minor reasons.
Barely 5% of the work force is covered by the 49 collective agreements in force, the majority in large companies. The content of these conventions rarely exceed the minimum stipulated by law.
On 30 December several hundred members of 10 trade unions came out onto the streets to protest at a bill to amend the law on trade unions. The proposed amendment would give the government the authority to disband unions. Four of the protest leaders were held for questioning after demonstrators threw cow dung at the police.
The number of workers covered by collective agreements is limited. Collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
mostly takes place in large companies.