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World News Quick Take

■ Banking
Workers strive for board seat
Workers at Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) are trying to win a seat on the bank's board by gathering proxy voting rights in the company, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing a statement from the workers' union. The union is planning to use the seat to ensure workers' rights, the report said. The bank plans to elect board members on Nov. 25, the report said. Chang Hwa Commercial's workers union is also calling for workers to take Nov. 25 off to slow the bank's operation, the report said. More than 1,600 of the lenders' 5,000 workers have expressed willingness to follow the union's request, it said. Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) on July 22 agreed to pay NT$36.6 billion (US$1.09 billion) for management control of Chang Hwa, creating the second-largest banking group in Taiwan in terms of assets.

■ Investment
Shin Kong consolidates
Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), the owner of Taiwan's second-largest life insurer, said it will buy Shinkong Investment Trust Co (新光投信) for about NT$1.7 billion (US$52 million) as it adds asset management to its business. Shin Kong Financial will pay NT$40 a share for Shinkong Investment's 43.5 million outstanding shares, the holding company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Friday. The takeover will "allow the financial holding company to consolidate and share resources to boost market shares and create new products," Shin Kong Financial's statement said.

■ Labor
Workers allegedly beaten
The president of an Italian sofa factory in southern China apologized to workers who said they were beaten amid a pay dispute, saying in a letter on Friday that he would investigate the incident personally. Luca Ricci, president and chief executive officer of DeCoro Ltd, denied that workers' wages have been slashed at his factory in the city of Shenzhen. "Upon my return to China, I will launch an investigation into the real reason behind this incident," Ricci said in a faxed letter. He said any Italian managers who acted improperly would be disciplined. Ten workers who confronted managers over their smaller-than-expected paychecks were dismissed, and when they tried to re-enter the factory last Monday they were surrounded by four or five foreign supervisors and beaten, according to reports in newspapers including Hong Kong's South China Morning Post and the mainland's Southern Metropolitan Daily. Staff contacted by phone said almost 3,000 employees stayed away from work the next day in protest. Workers who took to the streets were dispersed by riot police.

■ Automakers
Ford touts ethanol stations
Ford Motor Co said on Friday it is teaming up with an energy company to increase the number of ethanol fuel stations in the US next year. Ford said it will work with Brookings, South Dakota-based VeraSun Energy Corp to convert existing fuel pumps to E85, an alternative fuel made from a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Ford spokeswoman Chris Morrisroe said that Ford would announce the number of stations and their location at a later date. Morrisroe said Ford plans to add less than 100 fuel stations in the Midwest, where ethanol is readily available because it's distilled from corn and grain. Only about 500 of the 180,000 fuel stations in the US currently offer E85, Ford said.

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