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State workers’ high
bonuses cause an uproar
TOO GENEROUS: State-run enterprises with debts
of billions of dollars say they are to give employees year-end bonuses amounting
to up to several months’ salary
By Helen Ku / Staff reporter
Employees of state-run enterprises, including money-losing entities, are to
receive the equivalent of up to 2.6 months’ salary as year-end bonuses, the
State-owned Enterprise Commission said yesterday, amid widespread controversy.
In February next year, employees of CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 中油) are to receive
2.6 months’ salary as a year-end bonus, followed by Aerospace Industrial
Development Corp’s (AIDC, 漢翔航空) 1.88 months’ salary, Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower,
台電) 1.65 months’ salary, Taiwan Water Corp’s (TWC) 1.46 months’ salary and
Taiwan Sugar Corp’s (Taisugar, 台糖) 1.31 months’ salary, State-owned Enterprise
Commission Executive Director Liu Ming-chung (劉明忠) told a press conference.
“We think these are relatively fair results. We have factored in the impact of
some government policies [that have limited the performance of those
companies],” Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-hsiang (施顏祥) told reporters.
The year-end bonuses do not include extra bonuses based on employees’ job
performance as reviewed by the Executive Yuan.
The Cabinet has approved an extra two months’ salary for AIDC employees’
year-end bonuses, bringing their total year-end bonuses to 3.88 months’ salary,
according to Liu.
The Executive Yuan is still reviewing four other state-run enterprises’ annual
performance, Liu said.
Workers at those four state-owned companies are to receive at most two more
months’ salary as year-end bonuses, if their performances are graded as
superior.
CPC Corp has accumulated losses of NT$74 billion (US$2.54 billion) as of the end
of last year, while Taipower’s losses piled up to NT$117.6 billion during the
same period.
Shih blamed the losses primarily on the government’s policies of limiting
increases in fuel and electricity prices.
Excluding the policy factor, CPC and Taipower actually were making money, Shih
said. He did not disclose how much they earned.
AIDC and Taisugar reported profits of NT$1.1 billion and NT$5.5 billion
respectively last year, Liu said.
Though TWC lost NT$367 million last year, it would have made a profit but for
the impact of political issues, he said.
Noting that Shih was formerly a CPC chairman and therefore should know about the
company’s faults, mismanagement and gross misuse of bonuses, Democratic
Progressive Party Caucus Secretary-General Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) lambasted Shih
for failing to carry out reforms and instead giving protection to unseemly
practices.
Shih should also be aware that the government’s raising of both fuel and
electricity prices earlier this year was one of the issues that people
complained about most, he said.
“Shih should tender his resignation and apologize for a job badly done,” Tsai
added.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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