It isnot uncommon to hear of U.S. companies suppressing unionization through avariety of tactics. For example, a company may interview employees one by onewho are suspected of participating in the organizing of a union; use frequentlobbying and even intimidation to prevent a union from voting; purposelyschedule employees to work or not allowing them to take time off from workduring a union meeting time; or post articles on social media suggesting thatemployees may lose their stock options if they join a union. However, these tacticsmay have already violated the law.

In mid-December2023, the National Labor Relations Board of the U.S. (“NLRB”) found thatStarbucks, the global coffee chain giant, had closed 23 stores since July 2022in order to prevent its employees from organizing a union. As a result, the NLRBheld that Starbucks had committed unfair labor practice and demanded thatStarbucks reopen its stores and compensate the affected employees.

Similarto the aforementioned tactics used by U.S. companies to prevent the organizingof labor unions, several cases have also actually occurred in Taiwan. Forexample, an employee who worked as a news editor at Da Ai TV (Tzu Chi Cultureand Communication Foundation) received an unfavorable performance evaluationfrom his supervisor because he had secretly contacted other employees to organizea labor union, and was later dismissed in May 2015. In July 2016, a Kerry TJLogistics truck driver called for organizing a labor union in a posting in the"Baoliao Commune" fan group on Facebook, but the company later firedthe driver on the grounds that the employee's use of the term "sweatshopcompany" had damaged the company's reputation, would cause employees toquestion the labor conditions provided by the company andweaken the cohesion ofthe employees, etc.      

Anotherexample is TransWorld University, which reduced the teachers' academic researchbudget in 2020. In November of the same year, the teachers intended to organizethe "Taiwan Higher Education Industry Union, TransWorld UniversityBranch" to help the teachers and school staff protect their rights.However, when the teachers tried to reserve classrooms on campus to hold a preparatorymeeting, the university authorities regarded such preparatory meeting as"controversial assemblies" and refused to lend out classrooms, makingit impossible for the meeting to be held on campus. These are all cases thathave been recognized by the Ministry of Labor’s "Unfair Labor PracticesBoard" as cases constituting unfair labor practices.

The numberof labor unions in Taiwan has long been low, and professional unions with thelargest number of members only serve the functions of providing labor andhealth insurances. The general public and the workers themselves are veryunfamiliar with the functions of labor unions and the union movement. It wasnot until the three strikes in the airline industry between 2016 and 2019 (byChina Airlines flight attendants, China Airlines pilots, and EVA Air flightattendants), which involved a wide range of sectors, including not only airtransportation, but also the related travel and tourism industries, that thepublic's awareness of labor rights and interests was gradually awakened. OnDecember 8, 2023, the Ministry of Labor published the "Reference Guide forEstablishing and Organizing Labor Unions (for Enterprise Unions)" on itsofficial website for workers who would like to organize labor unions todownload and make use of it. The intention is for workers to know how toorganize a labor union from the very beginning.

It isprecisely because of the difficulty for individual workers and enterprises tonegotiate on equal footing, so that it is necessary to use labor unions as achannel for workers to voice their opinions. And it is also precisely becauseworkers still have hopes for the enterprises they serve in, they would like to seethe labor conditions improved so that they can serve the enterprises for a longtime and make the enterprises retain their talents and operate in a sustainablemanner. Otherwise, they can just leave the company and look for other jobs.Therefore, enterprises should adopt a positive attitude towards workers whointend to organize labor unions, and should not regard labor unions as ascourge. Tactics to prevent the organizing of labor unions are not onlyillegal, but also are not conducive to the harmonious development of laborrelations in the future.

Thisarticle was published in the Expert’s Commentary Column of the CommercialTimes. https://www.ctee.com.tw/news/20240109700099-431305

‍