ABSTRACT

This chapter looks at the often-neglected labor resistance prior to the mid-1980s so as to provide a benchmark for the subsequent labor uprisings. It explains the development of the labor movement up to the 2000 power turnover, focusing on its origins and relation to the political opposition. The chapter presents the post-2000 evolution, with particular emphasis on the movement's decline and policy achievements. It analyzes the situation of migrant workers and their tenuous relationship with the mainstream labor movement. While Taiwan's labor movement sprouted in 1984, most observers agreed its eruption came after the lifting of martial law in July 1987. Since the martial-law regime outlawed strikes, demonstrations, and opposition parties, its belated removal gave impetus to the long pent-up worker discontent. Consequently, pluralism is the most appropriate description of the current labor–government relationship. Taiwan's labor movement has proceeded in a more decentralized pattern, as different categories of workers organized to address their specific grievances.