Newspaper staff protest cutbacks

Editors who were unexpectedly fired earlier this month from the Taichung and Kaohsiung offices of the China Times, a Chinese-language daily, protested their dismissals at the Council of Labor Affairs yesterday.

Covered with newspapers bearing insults directed at the China Times, 33 dismissed page editors sang songs that lambasted the newspaper as they protested in front of the council. They were joined by representatives from other local media and labor unions.

Ku Sung-mao (古松茂), head of the council's labor disputes settlement section, received a petition from the dismissed editors.

But Ku said it was for local governments to judge whether the firings violated the Labor Standards Law. He said that the downsizing of businesses was understandable given the slowing economy.

"Whether the dismissals violated the Labor Standards Law should be determined by local governments. The central government can't say anything before investigation reports have been published," Ku said.

Ku failed to answer most of the questions put to him by the sacked editors. He did say, however, that the editors would benefit from the council's unemployment relief program, which the editors' petition described as a failure.

"You will all benefit from the unemployment relief program. Employers have their reasons for downsizing operations to solve financial problems. I would like to be the mediator for all of you if you are looking for more compensation," Ku said.

But his remarks upset the dismissed editors.

"Are you allowing the unemployment rate to rise in order to promote your program? We want to defend our rights as workers, not be pawns to promote your program," said Liao Chao-hui (柳昭蕙), one of the former editors at the newspaper's Taichung office.

Chang Tien-chiang (張天強), a standing committee member of the newspaper's labor union, said that the China Times had already contacted the council.

"The chief declined to explain whether the employer had violated the Labor Standard Law and only answered some relatively trivial questions. [Our former] employer probably influenced the council before our petition [was presented]," Chang said.

The accompanying labor unions included those of the China Times' main rival, the United Daily News, the China Television Co, Chinese Television system, the Central News Agency, the Mass Communication Alliance, and the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions' Taipei chapter.

Yang Chun-hua (楊俊華), president of the chapter, said that they were afraid more dismissals could be in the pipeline in the media and other industries.

"A slowing economy is a lesson for both employers and employees, and the two sides should cooperate. But employers just think about downsizing and dismissals, which is not fair to employees. Other media are watching the China Times' case closely, and will decide whether to dismiss staff if [the dismissals at the China Times] are successful. We want all the labor unions to cooperate to avoid possible further dismissals," Yang said.

Yang Chien-wen (楊建文), president of the United Daily News' labor union, said that it had joined the petition to fight against a common enemy.

"The competition is between the two employers, but we employees are all in the same boat. Newspapers should take more social responsibility," Yang said.

Earlier this month, roughly 100 workers from the China Times' Taichung and Kaohsiung bureaus were unexpectedly dismissed.