`Taiwan Daily News' fails to pay employees' salaries

The Taiwan Daily News announced late Wednesday that it would delay the payment of employee salaries for 10 days.

The newspaper said that the delay is the result of a cash-flow problem.

The delay is the latest difficulty in the newspaper's checkered financial history. In May, the president of the Formosa Plastics Group, Wang Yung-ching (王永慶), decided to discontinue his sponsorship of the newspaper after supporting it for five years.

To help with its financial problems, the newspaper started to pay monthly salaries in two installments, one on 5th of each month, the second on the 25th. Wednesday's announcement was in regard to a delay in the June 25 payroll.

The paper's official spokesman, Lo Chiung-hsuan, said that administrative procedures with banks delayed payment of the salaries.

"The newspaper's financial department expected the money to be remitted smoothly, but there were problems at the bank. Instead, we'll supply a full month's salary on Aug. 5," Lo said.

According to Lo, to keep the newspaper functioning, all employees' salaries will be cut by 10 percent starting in August. The News will try to save an additional 10 percent off expenditures by using other measures, which may include laying off employees.