Workers' Conference on National Affairs Is Coming

The Promoting Preparing Committee for National Confederation of Industrial Trade Unions (PPCNCITU, or NCITU) is organizing the Workers’ Conference on National Affairs (WCNA) on the 29th and 30th of Sep.. Participants in the conference will include members of NCITU, delegates from independent trade unions, labor organizations, scholars and experts. They will discuss the present significant issues concerning workers. Discussion topics in WCNA are divided into three sections: “Labor and Economy” (labor conditions, union organizations, occupational hazards, migrant workers, strikes and industrial disputes, industrial democracy), “Labor and Society (retirement , privatization of state-owned enterprises, female labor, labor and housing, un-employment), and “Labor and Politics” (evaluation of political praxis of trade unions, election and political systems, consolidation of workers’ political power).

NCITU believes that there has been “political liberalization” in Taiwan, but it is still not genuine democracy. Because of the unequal treatment to labor in working places, society and politics, it is still a situation under martial laws for the employed labor. Therefore, NCITU decided to organize this conference to analyze the unjust policies , and propose concrete suggestions regarding labor, social and political issues.

There are three optional drafts about the theme of the conference, “Farewell to the Old Century and toward A New Society”. It is said that confederations of trade unions including Kilusang Mayo Uno (or May 1st Movement) of the Philippines, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and Zenrokyo (or National Association of Labor) of Japan will be invited to speak in the conference. The government of Kaohsiung City helped a lot in assisting their activities financially.

We would like to propose two expectations from WCNA. Firstly, through the discussion of migrant issues, migrant and local workers can know each other better. Secondly, migrants can follow the development of this conference for the better interaction with the local labor movement.