On the eve of Chunghwa Telecom Co's (
"We will start large-scale strikes nationwide today throughout the week, as the privatization date of Aug. 12 nears," Simon Chang (張緒中), head of Chunghwa Telecom Workers' Union (中華電信工會), said in a phone interview yesterday.
The union expected nearly half of the 28,000 Chunghwa employees would join the strikes, seeking government guarantees of employee pension benefits before allowing the telecom giant to privatize, Chang said.
The state-run Chunghwa Telecom is by far the nation's largest telecommunications firm. As of May, the company monopolized over 90 percent of Taiwan's fixed line market, with 13.3 million subscribers, and an 80-percent share in the broadband internet connection market, with 3.3 million households. It also enjoys a nearly 40-percent share of the mobile phone market, with 8.1 million subscribers, according to the firm's figures.
This will not be the first time Chunghwa's workers have taken to the streets. Union representatives clashed fiercely with police outside Chunghwa's headquarters in Taipei, protesting the government's plan to sell shares overseas. The union also threatened strikes on July 1, but aborted the plan after it claimed a preliminary consensus had been reached with the management on benefits.
Yesterday, Chunghwa Telecom vice president and spokesman Hank Wang (
"We will deploy backup manpower, including management, to maintain operations as usual," Wang said on the phone. "The strikes only make it more difficult for the union's appeals to be accepted."
The union and the management remained at odds with each other over retirement compensation for employees, who would lose their privileged benefits as public servants after privatization.
Last month, the union visited the US Congress and the New York State Attorney, hoping to blockade the share sale, which the union said was an unlawful sale as the company failed to abide by a resolution made in the legislature. But the management stuck to its original schedule, visiting overseas investors last week to brief them about the American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) offering on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has proposed selling a 14 percent stake or 125.42 million ADRs, in the US this week, and will auction off another 3 percent stake or 289.4 million common shares tomorrow to domestic investors. Each ADR will represent 10 common shares.
The completion of the two sales would reduce the government's holdings in the company to around 48 percent from the 65 percent stake it currently owns, making Chunghwa a private entity.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique