Tainan education officials to challenge ruling on restrictions to teachers’ union leave

Tainan’s education department will take its dispute with Taiwan’s Labor Ministry to court after the ministry ruled that restrictions on teachers’ leave for union affairs constituted an unfair labor practice.

The department said it had limited the leave last year on the basis of a city council resolution. It expressed regret over the ruling and argued that the decision did not represent the final resolution of the case.

Officials said the department had notified schools of the restrictions as part of administrative supervision and guidance linked to city council budget reviews and school operations. They rejected the idea that the department had acted as the employer directly approving or denying individual teachers’ union leave.

The department cited a Supreme Administrative Court judgment stating that the employer of public-school teachers is the school. Under that interpretation, municipal and county education departments do not exercise substantive management authority and do not qualify as employers, or representatives exercising an employer’s management power, under the Labor Union Act.

The department said it recognizes teachers’ unions’ legal right to conduct union affairs and teachers’ right to participate in union activities. It argued that leave decisions must balance union work, normal school operations and students’ right to education. The planned lawsuit will address the legal relationship among local council oversight, education administration and labor law.