Teachers at British Council Taiwan to take strike vote next week

Taipei, June 5 (CNA) Foreign teachers working at English language teaching centers run by the British Council in Taiwan (BC Taiwan) will take a vote June 11 on whether to strike, after their demands for a pay increase, following a 20-year pay freeze, were rejected, the Taiwan Higher Education Union (THEU) said Wednesday.

THEU made the announcement at a press conference held outside BC Taiwan's Xinyi Teaching Center Wednesday afternoon, during which they also announced that if the vote is in favor of taking industrial action, the strike could start as early as the end of June.

At the press conference, THEU members and BC Taiwan teachers chanted "20 Years, No Fair Pay - British Council, Hear Our Say!" and "Two Decades of Dedication, Still No Fair Compensation!"

BC Taiwan operates under the British Office Taipei, the United Kingdom government's representative office in Taiwan.

Its first English teaching center was established in Taipei's Xinyi District in 2004, employing foreign teachers to teach English, THEU researcher Chen Po-chien (陳柏謙) said at the press event.

He added that despite tuition fees having surged by around 35 percent since 2016, and the Consumer Price Index having increased by at least 25 percent over the past 20 years, English teachers at BC Taiwan have not had a pay raise in 20 years.

In a THEU press release, it said after five rounds of negotiations between BC Taiwan and THEU, following mediation by Taipei City Department of Labor, BC Taiwan still refuses to provide a reasonable pay increase and therefore, the teachers have no choice but to proceed with a strike vote.

Chen said previously that around two-thirds of BC teachers are THEU members, adding that as such, the union entered negotiations with BC management in accordance with the law and proposed a minimum 25 percent pay hike for the teachers.

He told CNA Wednesday that this figure has now become three quarters.

In accordance with the Act for Settlement of Labor Management Disputes, a strike can go ahead if 50 percent of the teachers vote in favor of taking action.

In the past five to six years, BC's profitability in Taiwan has exceeded that of more than 80 percent of publicly listed companies in the country, the press release said, adding that due to the lucrative profits made from its Taiwan operations, BC recently celebrated the grand opening of a fourth English teaching center in Taiwan in New Taipei's Linkou.

Jack Falconer, President of THEU BC branch, said lots of foreign teachers have lived in Taiwan for years and wish to stay for the long term, but as the cost of living and students' tuition fees continue to rise while pay raise is frozen, going on strike might be the only way for them to ask for a reasonable salary adjustment.

Falconer said: "From 2004 when the British Council Taiwan was opened until today, there has been no change to our pay scales, no change to the hourly paid teaching rate, no change to the overtime rate, and no change to benefits. While student fees continue to go up year on year, the pay scales and the hourly paid rate for teachers just stay the same."

"Our students are committed and we enjoy teaching them...We want to stay in Taiwan, and continue to work hard for our students. But unless there is a change, and unless we start to feel valued again, we will have to return to our home countries, or find a different line of work," he added.

"We're fighting for change that will benefit teachers, that would allow them to stay in this job, to maintain high standards, and keep on doing what they do," he said.

Meanwhile, THEU and BC teachers also issued flyers to students and parents at the press conference, hoping for the understanding of around 600-800 affected students and their parents if the teachers ultimately choose to strike, as it is a difficult decision made only after exhausting all other options.

Members of the National Federation of Teachers Unions, which represents more than 80,000 teachers in elementary and junior high schools in Taiwan, also came to the press conference to show their support.

According to local media, the BC said full-time teachers in Taiwan are employed under a "ten-level salary system," and regardless of the inflation rate or financial losses experienced by teaching centers, full-time teachers have received an average annual salary increase of about 2-3 percent over the past few years.

Furthermore, in addition to global salary adjustments to be implemented by the BC next year, all full-time and hourly paid BC teachers received a 3 percent salary increase starting April 1 this year.

This increase, according to the BC, is in addition to the annual 2-3 percent pay raise scheduled for July for eligible teachers, which means many will see a total salary increase of 5-6 percent this year.

However, Chen told CNA that these are standard incremental raises in salary and do not constitute a salary increase.

If the strike goes ahead, it will be the first teachers' strike in Taiwan's history.