National Taiwan University graduate students established the first university-based labor union in Taiwan Jan. 7 in an attempt to secure protection for all workers at the university, according to founding members.
NTU graduate students, who receive subsidies from the university for assisting with teaching or research programs, formed the labor union in response to the university’s past record of pay cuts without advance notice, delays in payment and failure to offer labor protection, members said in a statement Jan. 8.
“We have talked to the university and demanded improvement, but its refusal to look into the matter prompted the action to form an on-campus labor union,” said Huang Shou-ta, one of the initiators.
According to a May 2011 labor report prepared by the union founders, although all masters degree and doctoral students are eligible for school grants, in practice 80 percent of them have to work in exchange for the money they receive.
The union demanded that NTU eliminate this gray area by institutionalizing payments and offering workers proper labor protection in accordance with the Labor Union Act.
According to the union, all university workers, excluding professors and public servants, are eligible to join.
The union is set to register with the Taipei City Department of Labor Jan. 18.
The department said it would have to consult with the Ministry of Education and Council of Labor Affairs as to whether teaching and research assistants are qualified to form unions.
For its part, the university said it has no right to interfere in the founding of the union as long as it is legal. (THN)