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`China Times' to lay off at least 500 more staff

The China Times, one of Taiwan's three leading Chinese-language dailies, was preparing yesterday for another round of staff cut-backs.

At least 500 employees will be laid off or asked to take early retirement during the second phase of paper's restructuring, sources said.

"I received an announcement from the labor union a couple of weeks ago, which said the company will lay off 500 employees and cut salaries, but the announcement didn't explain how that would be carried out," said one journalist from the newspaper, who wished remain anonymous.

A newspaper spokesman was unwilling to comment yesterday on the nature of meetings held with the newspaper's labor union.

The newspaper first announced its downsizing plans on May 18. The group's general manager, Yu Chien-hsin (余建新), told the newspaper's labor union that there would be three phases in the restructuring, being carried out to help solve the newspaper's financial problems. The dismissal of editors at the newspaper's Kaohsiung and Taichung bureaus was the first phase of this effort.

Yu refused to give more details about the downsizing. The enterprise's deputy personnel department manager, Hu Hong-ren (胡鴻仁), told the labor union that they would dismiss 500 employees at the end of May.

The labor union tried to save the newspaper's Kaohsiung and Taichung bureaus, but was unsuccessful in the attempt.

Lin Sheng-Fen (林聖芬), the executive editor of the newspaper, told Chinese language media that the sackings were necessary to solve the newspaper's financial problems.

"We have tried to restructure the newspaper to reduce paper use and [taken] some other measures, but we need to do more to solve the problem. We have no choice but to downsize the company," Lin said.

The labor union is planning on mounting protests against the newspaper next week.
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