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State-firm employees
protest against cuts to bonuses
By Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNA
Disgruntled employees in
state-owned enterprises protesting against the decision to slash their year-end
performance bonuses demonstrate on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in front of the
Presidential Office yesterday.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Disgruntled employees in
state-owned enterprises protesting against the decision to slash their year-end
performance bonuses demonstrate on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the
Presidential Office yesterday. The main banner reads: “The president is
incompetent. He is letting the public down.”
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
About 50,000 people took to the streets in
Taipei yesterday to vent their anger against a resolution passed by the
legislature last month to slash performance bonuses for employees of state-run
enterprises.
The protesters — members of the unions of 29 state-run companies and 27
supporting workers’ associations — demanded that the government review the
decision to cut their performance bonuses unless their companies make a profit
and find an alternative solution.
The Jan. 6 resolution also lowers the ceiling on such bonuses from the current
level of 2.6 months’ salary to 1.2 months.
Moreover, the 2011 performance bonuses for staff at the state-run Taiwan Power
Co (台電), CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油), Taiwan Sugar Corp (台糖) and Taiwan Water
Corp (台灣自來水) must also not be higher than 1.2 months’ salary. Since the 2011
bonuses have already been paid out at the existing rate, employees would have to
return the difference, the Legislative Yuan has said.
The decision came amid a public outcry over state employees receiving big
bonuses, despite the huge losses incurred by some of their employers.
Taiwan Petroleum Workers’ Union chairman Chuang Chueh-an (莊爵安) yesterday said
the Legislative Yuan’s decision was an abuse of the government’s administrative
powers.
Chuang said that the “one-size-fits-all” principle utilized in slashing funds
across all state-owned companies disregarded the differences between them and
nullifiesd the purpose of the performance bonus: giving staff an incentive to
work harder.
Chao Ming-yuan (趙銘圓), the executive director of the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine
Board (TTWB) factory union, said the legislature had not given enough
consideration to the decision.
The TTWB had a pre-tax surplus of NT$12 billion (US$404.9 million) and post-tax
surplus of NT$11 billion last year, he said, adding that if it were to slash its
bonuses and adhere to a particular ceiling, lower-level workers would have no
incentive to improve their performance.
During the protest, Lin Yu-fa (林裕發), head of the Taiwan Sugar workers’ union,
launched a campaign to form a political party to defend the rights and benefits
of state-run enterprise workers.
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