The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday said it would submit proposals to the Executive Yuan by the end of next month to reform the performance review process for employees of state-run enterprises.
The move comes as the ministry’s plans to give generous annual bonuses to employees at Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔航空); CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 中油); Taiwan Water Corp (台灣自來水); Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar, 台糖) and Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) have led to negative reaction from the public amid the current sluggish economy.
Under the ministry’s plans, employees at CPC are to receive 4.6 months’ salary as a year-end bonus ahead of the Lunar New Year next month, followed by AIDC’s employees’ 3.88 months’ salary, Taiwan Water’s 3.46 months, Taisugar’s 3.31 months and Taipower’s 2.65 to 3.5 months.
Under the current system, the total bonuses distributed to employees of state-run enterprises is composed of two parts: a maximum of up to 2.6 months’ salary awarded based on the company’s performance as decided by the ministry, and a maximum of up to two months’ salary based on an employees’ performance — which requires Premier Sean Chen’s (陳冲) approval.
“We think further discussion is needed to make the difference between the two parts of the bonuses more distinct in order to avoid any misunderstanding,” Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) told the legislature’s Economics Committee.
Last week, the ministry said it would consider macroeconomic indexes such as the nation’s GDP growth rate, its unemployment rate and the income growth rate of the poorest 20 percent of the nation’s households in the calculation of state enterprises’ employee bonuses in the future.
Both Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏) blamed the ministry for implementing policies that caused losses at Taipower and CPC, but then using “policy factors” as excuses when considering employees’ bonus payouts.
“The management of state-run enterprises cannot just walk away from this mess. Someone needs to take political responsibility to appease public outcry, or fix the system,” Lin said at the committee meeting.
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