Members of the Chunghwa Telecom Workers’ Union yesterday protested outside the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei after the telecom failed to deliver on its promise to give employees a pay raise of more than 4 percent.
The ministry is the telecom’s largest shareholder, with a 35.29 percent stake.
The telecom made the promise after Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) last year announced a 4 percent pay raise for civil servants, teachers and military personnel.
Photo: CNA
However, the telecom later said the average salary increase this year would be about 4 percent and each employee would also receive a one-time incentive bonus of NT$5,000.
“As Chunghwa Telecom’s largest shareholder, the ministry should ask the company to first negotiate with the union when it needs to make adjustments. The company’s management should not cap the salary increase for employees. It has failed to deliver the pay raise it had promised,” the union said.
The telecom should raise its contribution to employees’ pension to more than 15 percent, the union said.
Chunghwa Telecom said that it would continue to communicate with union members.
Before a corporate restructuring was finalized on Jan. 1, the telecom had since 2020 held more than 300 information sessions for workers, the company said, adding that it also set up a Web site last year for workers to communicate directly with the management.
“Despite the [COVID-19] pandemic, the management and employees worked together to generate an impressive performance last year. Then in October we announced a comprehensive pay increase and a one-time incentive fund for all employees this year,” it said.
Sectors use different ways to calculate pay increases, but the scope and magnitude of salary increases this year would be larger than in previous years, the company said.
The telecom also said its contribution to the employees’ pension funds are congruent with labor regulations and the market level, adding that an “employee shareholding trust” was established in April 1995 to encourage employees to make long-term investments.
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