Nine major trade unions including Taiwan’s education industry and industry support salary increases for public preschool education and care workers and call for simultaneous reform of working hours and manpower systems

Nine major trade unions, including the Taiwan Education Industry Union, support salary increases for public preschool education and care workers, but call for simultaneous reforms in working hours and manpower systems.

The Ministry of Education plans to raise the salary of public preschool education and child care workers. Nine major trade unions including the Taiwan Education Industry Union issued a joint statement today to express support. However, they emphasized that the salary increase must be accompanied by system reform. They require that education and care service personnel be guaranteed exclusive lesson preparation time without having to take care of young children at the same time, increase the number of full-time care and support manpower, and improve the overwork phenomenon of lunch break lesson preparation, free after-get off work lesson preparation, and communication with teachers.

Yang Yifei, CEO of the Taiwan Education Industry and Education Policy Think Tank, pointed out that child care has been integrated for more than 10 years. The applicable regulations and recruitment mechanisms for teachers and education caregivers are different, but the government has not established a complete long-term professional support system. In addition to salary adjustments, it is also necessary to clarify the professional division of labor and propose a coherent manpower training plan.

Yang Yifei pointed out that public, non-profit, quasi-public and private kindergartens have different employment, welfare and salary systems, as well as different statuses and vacancies such as the addition of additional education workers and the expansion of dedicated manpower for childcare. If only specific targets are adjusted without comprehensive consideration of the entire education and health care network, the gap in treatment between different kindergartens may be widened and the imbalance of manpower will be aggravated. He also gave the example that kitchen workers in non-profit kindergartens already have a salary base table and promotion system, but kitchen workers in public and kindergarten schools still lack a corresponding salary promotion mechanism. The government should review this together.

Regarding the working environment, Yang Yifei said that in addition to taking care of young children, education and health care workers also have to complete teaching plans, teaching evaluations and visits, etc. However, the time for preparing lessons has been compressed. The government cannot think that raising wages can rationally extend childcare and high-pressure working hours, ignoring the need for quality courses and environmental guidance for young children.

The nine major trade unions requested that the Ministry of Education should simultaneously improve professional training, teaching research and development and counseling support, covering special education teachers, social workers, nurses, kitchen workers and staff, and review the resource allocation and student-teacher ratios of various kindergartens, so that improved treatment can be transformed into improved quality of education and care.

The nine major trade unions include Taiwan Education Industry Union, Tainan City Education Industry Union, Kaohsiung City Teachers Union, Pingtung County Education Industry Union, Yilan County Teachers Union, Keelung City Teachers Union, Hsinchu County School Industry Union at all levels, Hsinchu City Teachers Union and Miaoli County School Industry Union at all levels.