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Bank employees take to streets

Over 8,000 staff from 16 state-owned and private banks protest yesterday before the Legislative and Executive Yuans, led by the National Federation of Bank Employees, demanding greater job security in the face of increasing bank mergers. PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES

Over 8,000 bank employees yesterday held a demonstration on the streets of Taipei, petitioning for labor rights and expressing concerns over the government's drive to consolidate the financial industry, which they fear may only benefit conglomerates.

"We do not oppose consolidation of the finance sector... but we are against unreasonable profits being made by conglomerates in the consolidation process while the labor rights of bank employees are sacrificed," Han Shih-Shian (韓仕賢), secretary-general of the National Federation of Bank's Employees Union (銀行員工會全國聯合會), said yesterday.

The protest, orchestrated by the federation, attracted the participation of employees from 16 banks, including Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫), the Taiwan Business Bank (台灣企銀) and Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行).

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) vowed last year to cut the number of state-run banks in half, to six, by the end of this year and reduce the number of financial holding firms to seven from the current 14 by the end of next year. The policy is intended to strengthen the finance sector's competitiveness.

Tax benefits

The federation said that the government's plan focuses on quantity instead of quality, and will leave a few conglomerates in control of Taiwan's financial resources.

Han said the federation hoped the government would halt benefits to conglomerates through preferential taxation or tax exemptions for mergers and acquisitions of financial institutions.

The government should retain so-called "golden shares" when they privatize financial institutions that would give them the right to veto private operators' proposals that could damage the rights and interests of employees and shareholders, Liu said. In addition, the government should crack down on financial crimes by setting up special courts presided over by judges who have backgrounds in the finance profession, he said.

Employee rights

The federation urged the Financial Supervisory Commission to monitor any "unreasonable" lay-offs that occur after a merger and called on the Ministry of Finance to instruct state-controlled banks to sign agreements with employees to protect their rights by the end of the year.

In response commission Vice Chairman Lu Daung-yen (呂東英) said that amendments to the Financial Institutions Merger Law (金融機構合併法) on preferential taxation measures had been halted prior to the demonstration, taking into consideration the public's concerns.

The merger law also protects employees' rights and interests throughout the merger and acquisition, and restructuring process, Lu said.

Additionally, the government plans to retain a controlling stake of as much as 15 percent in some state-controlled financial institutions, according to Liu Teng-cheng (劉燈城), director-general of the Ministry of Finance's National Treasury Agency.

Three state-run financial institutions, including Chang Hwa Bank and Taiwan Cooperative Bank, have signed group agreements with their employees, Liu said. The ministry will also urge two banks under Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), the International Commercial Bank of China (中國商銀) and Chiao Tung Bank (交通銀行) -- which are scheduled to complete a merger by the beginning of next year -- to expedite the signing of agreements with their employees.
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