Labor unions of two banks to strike for benefits

The labor union of Enterprise Bank of Hualien held a provisional meeting of union members to discuss the strike yesterday afternoon. Of a total of 319 union members, 197 were present at the meeting and a vast majority, at 187, of them agreed to a strike and authorized the union's board of directors to determine the date and relevant details for the strike.

You Jung-sheng, chairman of the labor union of the Hualien Bank, said that since the Central Deposit Insurance Corp. took over the operations of the bank late last year, the labor union has conducted many rounds of negotiations with a takeover task force of the CDIC, yet no consensuses have been reached.

Further, the labor union has also tried unsuccessfully to request that the Department of Social Affairs under the Hualien County Government help settle the management-labor disputes of the bank, You said, adding that his labor union has no other choice but to call an interim meeting of its members to discuss whether to stage a strike to press the CDIC to respond positively to their requests.

You continued that although his labor union has resolved to empower its directors to launch a strike, the door is always open for negotiations between both parties.

The labor union head expressed the hopes that before the an open auction bid is held for the Enterprise Bank of Hualien before the end of May, the CDIC could take the initiative to negotiate with the labor union over how to safeguard the working rights of employees and increase the seniority compensation funds.

He also hoped new investors in the bank can take into consideration the interests of the bank's clients and employees.

Also yesterday afternoon, the Taitung Business Bank saw its labor union members resolve to go on strikes to safeguard their interests.

The bank's labor union has a total of 465 members, and up to 77.2 percent or 359 members attended the provisional meeting, with 357 of them voting to support the strike scheme.

Since the bank was taken over by the CDIC in December 2006, the bank has yet to find any new investors although all its 31 branches have remained operational normally.

Hsu Tung-li, chairman of the labor union of Taitung Bank, said they're afraid that their interests would be undermined after their bank gets new management, and therefore they have to take actions to safeguard the working rights and other benefits of all employees.