In addition, with the help of non-KMT political figures, such as members of the Democratic Progressive Party, many labor unions and State-owned enterprise administrations removed KMT's influence, and this reshaped a huge economic sector of Taiwan from being strictly controlled by the state.
During the period of martial law in Taiwan from 1949, the Kuomintang (KMT) prohibited the formation of new political parties, outlawed collective action including labor strikes, and censored all media.
Labor unions were then formed to support the state and its economic plan, instead of providing a collective bargaining platform for workers in these state-own industries.
Many corporates had close ties with the Kuomintang, but with the labor movements, the KMT party branches lost their privileges within these enterprises.
[4] During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, labor disputes and unemployment issues were brought to the attention of the government, and workers began to recognize the importance of autonomous unions.
The Democratic Progressive Party introduced a bill to revise the Labor Standards Law and tried to set a legal limit of 44 working hours per week.