Abstract
In the previous studies, the founding of Taiwan Association of labor law and the termination of martial law was regarded as the causes of the rise of labor movements in post-war Taiwan. Furthermore, they focus only on labor disputes occurred within factory. This study, starting rather from a view of religious action, tries to explore the relation between the pastoral practices, which were conducted in trade union movements and labor education by Catholic priests in Taiwan, and the early time of independent labor union movements in Taiwan. And such practices is further placed under historical context in order to understand how it is possible for labor movement to take place under martial law. Fr. José Ellacuría from the Jesuits and Fr. Neil Magill from The Missionary Society of St. Columban are the two major figures in my investigation. Fr. Jose Ellacuria came to Taiwan in 1956 for learning Chinese. In the 1960s, through International Credit Union Movement, which was developed by church, and a growth group called ‘’The Young Christian Workers’’, he came to know about workers in Taiwan, this eventually leads to his devotion in both labor study and labor education. In 1971, he founded the first Catholic organization dealing with labor study and labor service, which introducing resources from Brotherhood of Asian Trade Unionists- World Confederation of Labour(WCL - BATU) and cooperating with Taiwan(Province) Federation of Labour. This organization was officially affirmed as an Catholic NGO – Rerum Novarum Labor Center, naming after “Rerum Novarum”, an encyclical enacted by Leo XII as a response to Industrial Revolution. On the other hand, Fr. Neil Magill, with his experiences in Korea, arrived at Taiwan in 1979. In 1984, following the belief revealed in” Laborem Exercens”, an encyclical enacted by John Paul II, he founded New Life Worker’s Center, meanwhile interacting with other local labor organizations and the participants of political opposition movements at that time. There was a climax of labor ministry of Catholic church in Taiwan, Rerum Novarum - as one of them - played an important role of delivering their experience. The main contribution of Rerum Novarum and New Life Worker’s Center were as below: 1. Promoting labor education aiming at the emancipation of all aspects of a human being; 2. Enlightening the first wave of post-war labor movement, and assisting its development. Catholicism is not the state religion nor the main stream of religious belief in Taiwan, however, the Church still operates strictly under the instruction of Catholic Church Hierarchy. With the historical fact that Catholic Church came to Taiwan with the defeated KMT, there was sound relationship between the church and the leadership of KMT, and this is also why there was controversies over the issue that foreign priests being involved in labor relations. It was not until 1989, that the two priests mentioned above was forced out of Taiwan and conflicts between the church and KMT burst out. Meanwhile, the public opinions about the relation between religion and profane activities also emerged at that time. Nevertheless, given some religious and political factors, the stories about the two priests caught little attention. This study tries to observe, from the stories of the two priests, the tension between western missionaries who were influenced by the turn toward humanism and thus involved in labor movements, and the religious group itself, the political structure and social context, so that a better understanding of the role that the pastoral practices of Catholic Church, of the blossom of the conscious of labor rights, and of the forming of the network of actors of post-war labor union is possible.