The state and labor movement in Taiwan, 1949-1993

This dissertation assesses the applicability of corporatist theory with respect to state-labor relationships in Taiwan between 1949 and 1993. Due to its defeat in a civil war with the Communists in 1949, the Nationalist government of the Republic of China moved from the mainland to Taiwan without any power base. To consolidate its power, the Taiwanese state developed a preemptive scheme of corporatist institution to solicit labor support.; Using a content analysis of labor law, this study examines the effect of state power on shaping the labor movement in Taiwan. Interviews with labor leaders, labor legislators, and officials of the ruling party (the KMT), provide supplementary information as well. The evidence generally confirms the major propositions of corporatist theory; it also reveals some significant gaps.; This study found that a combination of an official ideology, consisting of elements such as harmony, unity, an organic state, and social hierarchy, and the political elite's response to a national crisis determined the installation of a corporatist system in Taiwan. Union growth, in terms of numbers as well as membership, and union functions were associated with state policies. This finding confirms the generalization of state corporatism that unions are dependent on the state.; This study also found that the structure of labor representation, a hierarchical union organization, and state intervention into union affairs coexisted in Taiwan. The state incorporated labor into both legal and extralegal, the KMT, decision-making agencies. To maintain the corporatist institution, the state reshaped the structure of representation arrangements at critical moments. The state intervened in union internal activities largely through the KMT. The KMT dominated leadership recruitment and interest articulation of unions by using its intricate structure which parallelled the union organization. The state's protective labor legislation, such as the state-mandated insurance system, undercut the unions' ability to bargain with management. The "tripartite" model envisioned by most corporatist writers cannot apply to the structure of Taiwan's labor policy negotiation prior to 1987 when the Council of Labor Affairs was established. A "dual-bipartite" model was therefore created to explain the formation of labor policy in Taiwan.