Past and Present
Taiwan Labor Front … since 1984
Building Democratizations and Equality in Asia and the Pacific Efforts of Taiwan, efforts of the Taiwan Labour Front (2005.12)
The first labor activist organization
Past and Present
Taiwan Labor Front (TLF), born on the May Day of 1984 under the threat of martial law, is the first labor activist organization in Taiwan. TLF provided free legal consultation for workers, and played an important role in awakening labor consciousness in those days.
After the lifting of martial law, TLF helped to organize the first postwar strikes in 1988, and started to focus on labor education and union organizing.
Following the political liberalization in 1992, TLF started to wage political campaigns on labor rights issues. TLF helped to ignite the national debates on Plant Closing in 1992, on National Health Care in 1995, and on Industrial Democracy in 1996. Two TLF members went into the Parliament in 1996, and pushed to have the Labor Standards Law revised to extend its coverage to over two million workers in the service sector.
In early 2000, TLF published "Where Taiwanese Workers Stand", which was mostly adapted by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party as its presidential Labor Policy platform. DPP's candidate Chen Shui-Bian later won the election.
Goal of TLF
To unite the working class and other progressive forces to build a new society without exploitation, where people enjoy freedom and equal access to resources.
TLF Organization
Executive Board: The National Executive Committee consists of union leaders from all over the country. There are also local chapters in four major cities.
Bo Liu, President (Electric Power Union)
Bao-Rong Chen (Da-Ya Wire Union) Ching-hsien Huang (Petroleum Union)
Wan-Chi Lai (First Bank Union) Chi-Chang Chen (Fertilizer Union)
Cheng-hsien Bai (Tatung Appliance Union) Chao-Yang Li (Petroleum Union)
Chun-hsien Chang (Taipei Bus Union) Wei-Ming Chao (Telecom Union)
Shou-Huo Hsu (Tatung Appliance Union) Chao-Hui Lin (Postal Union)
Jun-Fang Chen (Hua-Xia Chemical Union) Jian-Li Shi (Postal Union)
Mu-Rong, Shih (First Bank Union)
Secretariat: The Secretariat consists of 5 departments: Policy, Publicity, Administration, Organization & Education, and International Affairs.
Guo-Wen Kuo
(Secretary General)Feng-Yi Chang
(Director, Policy) Shing-Ru Shen (Director Publicity)Liang-Rong Lin (Director, Education)
Chin-hsin Liu (Director, International)Fu-Yu Shih (Director , Administrative)
Vincent Zeng (Director, Organization)
TLF Publications
"The Case of Tatung" 大同工會奮鬥史：
A historical account of the union in an appliance company (2000)
"Where Taiwanese Workers Stand" 台灣勞工的主張：
Major labor issues and policy proposals (2000)
"New Public Ownership" 新國有政策－台灣民營化政策總批判：
An in-depth analysis of privatization in 1980's (1999)
"Self-defense Manual for Wage Earners" 上班族正當防衛：
A labor law primer (AWE edition, 1999)
"Monitoring the Parliament" 體檢立法院：
Evaluation of MPs' performace on labor issues (1998)
"Voting Guide for Workers" 勞工投票指南：
A voter's guide for the city and county election (1997)
"Industrial Democracy" 產業民主﹐觀念革命：
A primer to promote the idea in Taiwan (1996)
"Understanding National Health Care in 30 minutes" 三十分鐘了解全民健保：
Labor's viewpoint (1995)
"All You Want to Know about Privatization" 公營事業民營化知多少：
An introduction of the crisis (1993)
"The Labour" 勞動者雜誌：
A monthly labor magazine since 1984.
Recent TLF Projects
Labor Education: in cooperation with unions and community colleges.
Policy Research: on labor and social policies.
‧The Union Law
‧Act for the Regulation of Large Scale Lay-Off
Labor Standards Monitoring: A joint project with International Labor Rights Fund (USA)
. The Yearbook of the Labor Situation in Taiwan
More TLF Information
Address: Suite 518, 5F-14. Secsion 1, 110 Han-Koa Street Taipei, Taiwan; 台北市100中正區漢口街1段110號5樓之14（518室）
Tel: 886-2- 2311-0259, 2311-1921, 2311-5918; Fax: 886-2-2311-5901
Email: labornet@tpts1.seed.net.tw Homepage: http//: labor.ngo.org.tw