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Chunghwa union calls for chairman to resign

"Since privatization, four employees have committed suicide as a result of work-related stress."

Chen Po-chien, Chunghwa union deputy secretary-general

The Chunghwa Telecom Workers' Union (CTWU) held a protest in front of the Legislative Yuan yesterday, requesting the Ministry of Transportation and Communication to replace company chairman Ho Chen-tan (賀陳旦) for a proposal which it said would result in the layoff of 1,600 workers.

Amid shouts of "replace Ho Chen-tan immediately," dozens of CTWU members accused the chairman of failing to abide by a collective agreement signed by the union and the company that bars the company from firing employees within the five years following privatization.

Chunghwa Telecom (中華電信), which became a private company on Aug. 12, 2005, when government shares dropped below the 50 percent mark, signed the agreement on employee benefits and pensions in January last year.

"To please foreign investors, who control 48 percent of the company's shares, Chunghwa plans to dismiss 1,600 workers by April 15 as a means to reduce cost in personnel," union secretary-general Chuang Ping-tang (莊炳棠) said.

Chuang said an employee had committed suicide because he could not bear the pressure following privatization.

"Each branch of the company was asked to meet employee reduction quotas. To meet that objective, the management treated employees in inhumane fashion -- from arbitrary relocation to such performance benchmarks as would force employees to quit," he said.

"The 48-year-old employee [who committed suicide] worked for the Feng Shan [鳳山] branch. After the company went private, he became very anxious over meeting performance expectations and sought the help of a psychiatrist 11 times before hanging himself in a generator room," Chuang said.

Union deputy secretary-general Chen Po-chien (陳柏謙) said that only replacing Ho could prevent similar tragedies from reoccurring.

"Since privatization, four employees have committed suicide as a result of work-related stress -- and yet the company still sticks to its layoff strategy," he said.
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