Tatung employees protest factory closure

Nearly 200 Tatung Co (大同) workers demonstrated in front of the Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday against the company's plan to move one of its factories to Vietnam to lower production costs.

Chanting slogans such as "anti-factory closure" and "we need job security," employees from the company's Banciao factory in Taipei County protested that Tatung, the nation's leading home appliance maker, should not shutter the plant.

"Most of the staff here have dedicated their whole lives to working for the company. What are they supposed to do if they lose their jobs in their middle age?" asked Lee Chai-hsing (李財興), a spokesman for the Banciao factory's workers' union.

According to Lee, as the new plant in Vietnam is scheduled to come on line in June, it will most likely take over the Banciao plant's role in producing home appliances such as refrigerators, fans and rice cookers.

As a consequence, nearly 800 staff in Banciao are expected to lose their jobs.

"Tatung has moved plants to China and now Vietnam. If the factories are all moved offshore, there will be no `made-in-Taiwan' home appliances in the future," Lee said.

Kao Jin-liang (高金樑), who has worked for Tatung for 20 years, said that the closure would hit his family hard, as three of his relatives are also employed by the company.

"We have not had wage increases for six years now and I am only earning around NT$800 [US$24.58] a day. All we are now asking is that the company not lay us off," he said.

The union said it would march on the Council of Labor Affairs next Friday to voice the workers' concerns.

Responding to the union's statements, Tatung said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday that it had no option but to set up overseas facilities if it was to increase exports, boost competitiveness and sustain its business in the long term.

"Restructuring exercises within an organization can be a win-win scenario for both management and employees ... Tatung's management philosophy will always maintain `preserving our roots in Taiwan' as a priority," Tatung spokesman Chang I-hwa (張益華) said.

If the company finds that it has excess local manpower after its Vietnam facilities are set up, Tatung would "actively utilize" these resources in other divisions, factories or affiliates, as factory closures do not necessarily have to result in job terminations, he said.

Some of the workers had already been transferred to the Tayuan (大園) plant in Taoyuan County, which makes oxygen inhalators for medical use, he added.

Meanwhile, the Council of Labor Affairs said that if companies decide to axe a large number of staff, they should give the workers, their unions and related labor affairs authorities 60-days notice in accordance with the Protective Act for Mass Redundancy of Employees (大量解雇勞工保護法).

Wang Hou-wei (王厚偉), section chief of the labor management relations department at the council, said that the management and the union may be able to reach a compromise during the two-month period. This could involve reducing working hours or lowering wages to cut costs, rather than firing employees, Wang said.

At the same time, the council would send staff to the company to assist workers who had been laid-off to look for new jobs, he said.

"This is not the first time that Tatung, like many other local firms, has relocated its resources overseas as part of its global strategy,” Wang said.