Job Discussion Forums

[Aristotle]

Taipei teachers form unauthorized union
CLA, MOE officials say change in relevant laws needed for group to obtain recognition.

http://www.etaiwannews.com/Taiwan/2003/12/07/1070762231.htm
One step closer.
A.

[killian]

have you approached them regarding membership?

[Aristotle]

I have been trying to contact them but they seem to be even more paranoid than myself.
Proably because deportation is not an option for them.
A.

[brian]

Do you think that they would really allow foreigners to join? I mean this is something that they have obviously been fighting for some time. Good luck to them, but I think that we might have to wait a while longer before we have our own little co-operative.

Doesnt this board act as a union in a way. I mean I realize that it has absolutely no clout with the powers that be, but isnt it an opportunity for us to share experiences, both positive and negative. I dont know, just a thought!

[killian]

ari:

any union is only as good as her organization. if we even attempt to organize they'll deport anyone who even seems to be an agaitator. you really want to come running to the side of every newbie getting skewered? a union rep. job illuminating the minutae of living here would be interesting.

how much justice, in your opinion, could we reap?

if we so desire we have potential power. e.g.: the people who are legal w/o health insurance. i have met lotsa folks in this pinch. but, wouldn't such merely be the moral equivalent to extortion?

[ScottSommers]

I am really hesitant to join any thread that Aristotle is part of, much less one that he has started.

Why would a teachers union want anything to do with foreign bushiban teachers? Much less teachers that publically advocate illegal activities? The reason public school teachers are advocating a union has much less to do with working conditions in Taiwan than it does with ethnic politics.

There has been democracy in Taiwan for more than decade; why have teachers waited until now for action? Teachers, like all other trade unions in the ROC, have strong political alliances. Historically, teachers and education have been strongly alligned with the ruling KMT. The China Youth Corp, for example, which one could loosely compare with Hitler Youth, has been run as the children's wing of the KMT. Until recently, its nominal head was the Minister of Education. School teachers as agroup have always been strong supporters of the KMT and the Blue Faction. While some younger teachers are breaking away from this model, if you know any school teachers ask them about this. These direct links between teachers and the ruling party caused teachers organizations to develop differently than those in the West. Teachers became part of a KMT-oriented political machine, rather than what we would think of as a professional organization.

With the election of the DPP and the reorganization of the KMT as a non-governmental party, the strong political links between teachers and the KMT became meaningless. Subsequently, teachers have begun to push for an organization modelled along the more professionalized lines of Western teacher's groups. Part of the government's resistence to this no doubt comes from the DPP's ability to successfully replace many of the older KMT officials with their own people.

Teachers who are trying to form a 'union' are not radical trying to fight labour oppression. Rather they are members of a politically mobilized group that ve become an anachronism. Why would they want to talk with a bunch of english teachers that teach in bushibans?

[Aristotle]