I have thought about this occasionally for many years, and have decided it’s time to see if there’s any real interest. If so, I’m willing to dedicate my time to this, and to go full time on a typical cram school teacher’s salary if needed (paid by your union dues, if you’ll support me). I would appreciate getting some (serious) feedback, questions, concerns, criticism, etc., so please leave a comment below or send me a private message. Here’s the relevant laws you can refer to, but I will explain the important parts and general idea below.
Labor Union Act
Enforcement Rules of the Labor Union Act
Regulations for Attendance by Proxies of Labor Union Meetings
— The Case for the Foreign Teachers Labor Union (外籍人士補習教師工會) —
First of all, do we even have a right to organize?
Absolutely, yes. Article 4 states clearly that “All workers shall have the right to organize and join labor unions,” and this is true across the board with only one exception (defense/military personnel). ESPAS (the Employment Service Professional Association) has an article (Chinese) explaining that foreigners, as well as workers hired for a specified duration on a contractual basis, all have the right to join a union.
Why do we need a labor union?
The benefits for starting a labor union are numerous. The general purpose of labor unions is to allow workers to bargain collectively with employers. When you’re on your own bargaining with an employer, most of the bargaining chips are on the other side of the table. The employer can simply say: sign this contract, do this the way that I want you to, or you won’t get the job (or you’ll be fired, etc.) Labor unions can prevent this sort of unfair treatment by creating a more equal bargaining position for the employee through negotiating collectively. In fact, an employer cannot refuse to negotiate with a labor union, as refusal to do so is considered an unfair labor practice. Here are some specific benefits that I can think of that might be attainable through collective bargaining, but are typically unattainable through one-on-one negotiations:
- Lack of pay raises and pay ceilings
- Forced off-the-clock work, including preparation, marking, hourly pay with forced early clock-in times, etc.
- So-called “breach of contract” penalties
- Forced illegal work at branch schools, kindergartens, etc.
- Lack of holiday pay, half-pay for sick leave, and paid time off
- Underreporting of salary (which can lead to problems for people who want permanent residence later on)
- Not paying minimum weekly hours as stipulated in the contract, for example, due to cancelling a class for a field trip, etc.
- General lack of job security, as teachers can often be fired for any reason
- General lack of disregard for the rules set out in the Labor Standards Act, as employers assume (often correctly) that employees are unaware of these laws
The most common argument about all of these seems to be the following: “If you don’t like what’s in the contract, don’t sign it.” While this is definitely good advice, it is often impossible to follow given the circumstances many people find themselves in. It is also often too late, and people who are new to the field were not aware of how the terms of their contract might be used against them at the time of signing.
Joining a union means that whenever you have a grievance about your employment, you have someone to go to who will be on your team and fight for your rights at work. I have been in some of the above situations, and successfully fought for my rights through appealing to the Council of Labor Affairs, but most people simply don’t have the time, energy, or know-how to go through those procedures. Union members will not suffer many of those contractual problems in the first place, and when problems do arise, they needn’t feel unable or helpless: that’s what your union dues are for.
But many, if not most foreign teachers in Taiwan are only here for a couple of years. Can they benefit from a union?
Yes, absolutely! Pretty much everybody who is coming to teach in Taiwan will go on Google and do some homework before they apply for jobs and actually get on a plane. With some good outreach, it should be relatively straightforward to make sure that every foreign teacher in Taiwan is at the very least aware that a foreign teachers union exists. These short-term teachers are actually the ones most likely to be exploited by companies, as they are also the least likely to be aware of their rights in Taiwan (and most likely to have communication problems should they desire to take anything further up, i.e., in court). Whatever their reasons for coming to Taiwan, short term teachers would benefit just as long term teachers. Salaries for foreign teachers in Taiwan would go up across the board, including short term teachers. Time off would be more reliable, and paid time off would start minimally in year two (as required by law) or potentially earlier as the union gains strength. Indeed, it is often the case that teachers who would otherwise stay on to become long term residents are pushed out because they see the labor practices here as exploitative and do not wish to submit themselves to such treatment.
Won’t the schools hate this? Won’t they simply refuse to sign union members?
Yes, they will hate it. At first. The fact is that unions push costs of employment up, and schools don’t want to see this. However, at the same time, unions also ensure that employees feel happy and safe in their jobs, and this ultimately is reflected back in the quality of their work; their teaching, in this case. The foreign teachers union may be able to provide professional development opportunities for those members and workers who stay on long term, and all of these will indirectly benefit schools in the long run. Regardless of how the schools feel though, even in the early stages, they cannot simply refuse to sign union members, because all employees have the right to join a union and cannot be dismissed as a result of union member status. In the beginning, the union need only advocate for contracts to be lawful (as most are currently not), and as such the union will be acting in good faith negotiations. If a school refuses to reach an agreement with a union because it will only agree to an unlawful contract (for example, one that doesn’t pay half-days for sick leave), then those negotiations are not being carried out in good faith and the union would have a strong case against the employer for unfair labor practices. To put it simply, employers are scared of unions. That’s why Wal-Mart and every big company that’s not already unionized puts their employees through hours of mandatory anti-union propaganda “training” every year. Once a union is formed, the employer has no right to simply back away.
Ok, so I’d like to join a union, but there isn’t one yet. What can I do?
The first step is to reply to this message and say that you would join a labor union, given the option. If you don’t want to do so in public, that’s fine, give me a PM. In either case, please include your location (city or county). Once we see what the kind of numbers are that we are looking at, then we have a few options.
The best option will be to start in Taipei, as that is where there are the largest numbers of people. According to Article 6, a professional (craft) union is not limited to one company, as an industrial or corporate union would be. However, it is limited in scope to one administrative region, so in this case that would be Taipei City (or perhaps New Taipei City) at first. As other unions are started in other districts, Article 8 provides for a confederation of labor unions so that they can all work together, but for the moment that’s a long way away so lets focus on Taipei / New Taipei for now. According to Article 11, thirty joint-signatures on the application for a union is sufficient to submit the application and become a registered union. Article 12 explains the detailed format of the union charter, which we will discuss and vote on as part of the inauguration of the union. Initially, we will need 5 members to be elected as directors, and 1 as the supervisor. A general meeting must be held once a year, but once membership reaches 100, then representatives can be chosen to attend the meeting instead of the general members.
How much will I have to pay?
The more money we have, the more we can do. That being said, in the beginning stages of the union, we won’t be able to do much until we have more membership. The minimum amount of union dues is 0.5% of a workers monthly salary. For 60,000 NT per month in salary, that amounts to 300 NT per month in dues, minimum. With 30 members and 9,000 NT in monthly revenue, we can’t do much, and I wouldn’t expect myself (or whoever is ultimately elected as a union leader initially) to take a salary. Your 300 NT per month would go towards outreach and getting members, printing materials, developing a website, etc. However, ultimately, we would like to improve our wages, and to do that we will need people involved with the union full-time; membership dues might go up but wages would go up to more than compensate for the dues. These are all things we can discuss in the future and include provisions for them in the charter. I would propose that our leaders take a salary that is at the same level as the typical (full time) member’s salary. If that’s 60,000 NT, then we’ll need 200 members paying 300 NT per month per full time union worker. Of course, we’ll also need legal counsel and accountants, and those also cost money. If you look at union statistics, salaries increase on average something like 20% with a strong union. If we can help turn that 60,000 into 72,000, that 300 (or 1,000) you pay to union dues will be well worth it.
Here is an outline of the short-term and long-term plans:
- Gauge initial interest in union membership - please spread this link around, and reply if you are interested!
- When I can confirm with 30 individuals in one area (probably Taipei or New Taipei to start with), I will arrange a space (online) for us to discuss in further detail about how we will proceed.
- Start the union, hold inaugural meeting, elect union leaders.
- Gather support & promote membership
- Discuss members’ work-related problems, and draw up union-approved contracts (to propose as counter-offers to the typical unfair, unlawful contracts that are usually signed.)
— Until this point, the union will not engage in (m)any direct negotiations with businesses —
(Remember, schools cannot refuse to negotiate with us at this point)
6) As union members’ contracts come up for renewal (or as new teachers look for jobs, or current members look to change jobs), the members will notify their employers (or prospective employers) that their union will be representing them in all negotiations.
7) Maintain ongoing relationships with employers to settle labor-management disputes, i.e., carry out the expected duties of the union
— Long term goals —
- Open chapters in each administrative region, starting with the major population centers after Taipei (Kaohsiung, Taichung, etc.), and form a confederation.
- Push for better legislation in all work-related affairs (for example, legalizing kindergarten, allowing access to pension funds, loosening restrictions on permanent residence, and so on).
These things are all possible. Remember, the schools don’t want to hire you – you’re expensive! They have to hire you because their clients demand it, and we can use that to our advantage. All we need to do is stand together.
You may not have run the numbers before, but your employer fills his/her pockets with revenue generated from your work. A typical English cram school student with a foreign teacher might pay 4-6,000 NT per month. Multiply that by the 15 students in one of your classes, and again by all 6 classes that you teach at the school. That’s something like 450,000 per month, of which you see maybe 50,000 (and after another 25,000 for your co-teacher, some for the receptionist, rent, and so on) the owner is still left with much more than their fair share. You earn it, so why should they keep it all?
Please let me know what you think. Thanks!