The Tainan City Education Bureau has curtailed teachers’ leave and is found to have engaged in improper labor practices. Administrative lawsuits will be filed.

The Ministry of Labor determined that the Tainan City Education Bureau’s reduction of teachers’ leave from the association constituted “improper labor practice,” and the Tainan City Education Bureau will file an administrative lawsuit. (Provided by Taiwan Education Industry)

Last year, the Tainan City Education Bureau used a "council resolution" as an excuse to restrict teachers' conference leave, and the Ministry of Labor ruled that it constituted "unfair labor practices." In response, the Tainan City Education Bureau responded today by saying that it regretted the ruling. The Ministry of Labor's ruling was not the final result. The Education Bureau will file an administrative lawsuit in accordance with the law, and the administrative court will hear the decision.

The Education Bureau pointed out that based on its status as the competent educational administrative agency, and based on the results of the city council's budget review and school administrative operations, the Education Bureau notified the affiliated schools in a letter that it was based on administrative supervision and reminders, and was not directly granting leave to individual teachers in its capacity as an employer. According to Judgment No. 88 of 2010 of the Supreme Administrative Court, it has been determined that the employer of public school teachers is the school. Municipal and county and city education bureaus are not employers with substantial management rights, nor are they "employers or persons exercising management rights on behalf of employers" as mentioned in Article 35 of the Trade Union Law. Therefore, there is a precedent that has revoked the Ministry of Labor's ruling on improper labor practices of local governments.

The Education Bureau stated that it has always attached great importance to the teachers' union's handling of meeting affairs in accordance with the law and the rights of teachers to participate in union activities. The handling of teachers' union leave should be properly handled based on the trade union law, teachers' leave rules, mutual agreement and actual class situation, so as to take into account union activities, normal school operations and students' rights to education. The City Council's review and supervision of local autonomy matters and budgets, as well as the administrative actions carried out by the Education Bureau, are all part of the operation of local autonomy.

In this case, the Education Bureau will file an administrative lawsuit in accordance with the law. Regarding the legal issues involved in the ruling of the Unfair Labor Practices Adjudication Committee of the Ministry of Labor, the administrative lawsuit will fully explain the legal relationship between parliamentary supervision, educational administrative supervision and the labor legal system established by the current local system law. The court will hear and rule in accordance with the law.