China Times avoids employee strike
By Leah McBride Mensching, Tuesday 22 July 2008 at 16:55 :: Labor & Employment :: #1960 :: rss
Employees at the Chinese-language China Times came close to launching a strike last week that would have started Friday, had union members cast five more votes in favour, the Taipei Times reported.
The strike at the China Times, one of the four largest newspapers in Taiwan, would have included printing press workers from all the paper's three printing presses, and would have stopped production. The paper's employees are looking to gain better job security and severance pay for laid-off workers.
After day-long discussions, 117 members voted in favour of the strike, and the 243-member union needed at least 122 votes for the strike to move forward, according to the Taipei Times article, posted by Asia Media.
A reporter who declined to be named told the Taipei Times most of his colleagues have little motivation to work, after the paper last month announced a decision to cut 575 employees.
“We don't have any bargaining chips left now that the strike has been voted down. I wouldn't be surprised if the China Times shuts down in a few years if this is the way it treats its employees. Who in their right mind would want to stay when your job security is always in jeopardy?” the reporter told the Taipei Times.
At last Thursday's meeting, Chou Sheng-yuan, the newspaper's publisher, changed the staff cuts to 430 employees instead of the 575.
“We sincerely hope employees will empathise with the paper's dilemma and not turn the paper into a laughing stock,” he said, according to the Taipei Times.
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