Union threatens with mass action over proposed sale

To protest the Taiwan Business Bank's (台灣企銀) proposed share sale, representatives of the Taiwan Business Bank Industrial Union (台企銀工會) said yesterday that they are planning a large-scale march next Saturday and might even call a strike if the merger goes ahead without regard for employees' opposition.

"Our main appeal is to oppose a merger because professional banks like the Taiwan Business Bank must continue to exist to serve the society," union chairman Lin Wan-fu (林萬福) said.

He said the march expects to attract more than 7,000 participants, including supporters from seven or eight state-controlled financial institutions.

Although the union is making a last-ditch effort to safeguard employees' working rights, Lin said that they are also insisting on signing a collective agreement with the management in case the merger does have to take place.

The union demands that the company offer employees early preferential retirement opportunities every six months for three years following the merger.

However, the management and the Ministry of Finance, which stressed that a two-year protection period is the baseline, have not yet agreed to this request, he said.