Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Brian Hioe
TEACHERS AT National Taiwan Normal University’s Mandarin Training Center (MTC) held a press conference on March 20th, calling for better pay conditions and an end to the illegal contracts that they currently work under. The press conference took place between classes and outside of the MTC itself.
In particular, teachers have called attention to the fact that a teacher who only teaches one two-hour class makes 18,480 NT per month. After deductions, that results in approximately 15,000 NT in pay.
To this extent, legal protections for maternity leave, marriage leave, sick leave, and bereavement leave are not upheld. This results in further deductions for teachers.
Likewise, Mandarin teachers only have three-month contracts. In the past, Mandarin teachers only had three-month or six-month contracts, allowing for quick termination through non-renewal of contracts. Unsurprisingly, this meant weak labor protections, resulting in demonstrations from Mandarin teachers. The Ministry of Education affirmed that the Labor Standards Act, which does not allow for such precarious contracts, applied to Mandarin teachers in November 2024.
But according to MTC teachers, this still does not apply to them. As such, demonstrating teachers have called on the Ministry of Education to conduct inspections, especially as the Labor Standards Act has applied to MTC teachers since 2008. Teachers have also called on enforcement not to require contract renewals that would overturn current seniority, criticizing that while there previously was respect for teachers by the administration, with recent moves toward formalization, the seniority of teachers has not been respected.
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
MTC teachers call for a fair contract, reasonable compensation, compliance with the law, and transparent negotiations. The Taiwan Higher Education Union proposed collective bargaining with the university in January. For its part, the university claims it must first verify whether the teachers qualify for forming a union, that it has been in compliance with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labor, and the Taipei City Government Department of Labor, and that it will establish an interdepartmental task force to address the matter.
73 of the 90 Mandarin instructors at MTC have joined the union, meeting the threshold for unionization, and many are willing to be open about their identities.
It is to be seen if National Taiwan Normal University complies with the demands of teachers at MTC. The case proves to be a labor dispute at one of Taiwan’s most prestigious Mandarin teaching institutions, but perhaps more generally reflects increased precarity among teachers in Taiwan.