The Dialectic of Institutional and Extra-institutional Tactics: Explaining the Trajectory of Taiwan’s Labor Movement

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This article offers an interpretation of the development of Taiwan’s labor movement as an evolving dialogue and conflict between two tendencies. Due to democratization and liberal labor law reform, the usage of institutional tactics in the form of parliamentary lobbying and tripartite participation became the mainstream strategy of the movement over the years. This current, however, was periodically contested by the radical wing, which relied on extra-institutional social movements. This divide reflected an organizational division within Taiwan’s working class, that is, the growing gap between unionized workers and marginalized workers (foreign workers, laid-off workers and part-timers). While the contention between two streams might seem irreconcilable, I shall argue there have been possibilities for mutually beneficial cooperation.