Kaohsiung City's Bureau of Labor Affairs plans to investigate recent lay-offs at the Kaohsiung offices of the China Times, a Chinese-language daily, for possible violations of the Labor Standards Law, bureau officials said yesterday.
"We're going to organize a committee with one government official and two representatives, an employee and a manager, to investigate whether the employer has in fact violated the law," said Ting Yung-yen (丁勇言), spokesperson for the bureau.
Ting insisted that while the paper has given its Kaohsiung employees pink slips because it is downsizing its operations, the China Times still has not reduced its daily operations in any way and has merely transferred its work back to Taipei from Kaohsiung.
The paper's circulation hasn't fallen either, Ting said.
Earlier this month, roughly 100 workers from the newspaper's Taichung and Kaohsiung bureaus were unexpectedly laid off.
About 30 sacked editors from Kaohsiung and seven from Tai-chung have petitioned Kaohsiung City's labor affairs bureau to mediate on their behalf.
Negotiations between workers and the newspaper broke down on June 9.
Lin Sheng-fen (林聖芬), the executive editor at the China Times, said he was unaware that the bureau had decided to get involved in the matter and was unwilling to comment any further.
The Labor Standards Law stipulates that an employer can sack employees under any of five conditions.
They include the closure or the transfer of a company's ownership; a downsizing or a financial loss; the unsuitability of the employee; a shifting of operations that leaves some positions obsolete; and other uncontrollable factors that may force a company to close its doors.
The fired employers from Taichung and Kaohsiung are planning to petition the Cabinet-level Council of Labor Affairs tomorrow.
RSS