Labor Unions in Taiwan: Current Stats

Labor Union in Taiwan A labor union is defined as: a permanent association organized democratically by a group of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in maintaining and improving working conditions and uplifting economic status. In accordance with Article 6 of the Labor Union Act, labor union can be categorized into corporate union, industrial union and craft union. The term “corporate union” shall mean the union organized by employees of the same factory or workplace, of the same business entity, of enterprises with controlling and subordinate relationship between each other. “Industrial union” shall mean the union organized by workers in the industry. Whereas the term “craft union” shall mean the union organized by workers with the same professional skills. Organizational district of a professional union shall be limited in the municipal city or county (city) where it locates. Statistics of labor union in Taiwan as of the end of 2012 are listed below: (1) Number of corporate union: 892, with 537,419 members. (2)Number of industrial union: 84, with 51,603 members. (3) Number of craft union: 4,016, with 2,798,421 group members. (4) Number of federation of labor union: 233, with 5,270 group members. (5) Number of labor union: 5,225, with 3,387,443 member, and 34.9% organization rate. Unemployment Rate-Oct. 4.24%

Average Monthly Earnings-Sept. 43,367 dollars

Average Monthly Regular Earnings-Sept. 37,760 dollars

Average Monthly Irregular Earnings-Sept. 5,607 dollars

Average Monthly Working Hours-Sept. 171.8 hours The Council for Labor Affairs released a survey on workers’ living standards and employment prospects. The report showed that over the past year, 51.2 percent of workers had put in overtime, with 28 percent working for more than 12 hours a day, up 1 percentage point from the previous year and exhibiting an upward trend over the past three years.