TAIPEI -(Dow Jones)- Chungwa Telecom Co. (2412.TW) has reached a basic understanding on a collective agreement on worker benefits with its labor union, company Senior Vice President Hank Wang said Friday.
The chairman and the labor union chief now have to seek a final consensus with the company's regulator, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, said Wang.
Chunghwa Telecom hasn't yet signed the agreement, designed to ensure the benefits of Chunghwa Telecom's workers after the company becomes private.
The transport ministry, which controls 65% of the largest phone company in Taiwan, plans to sell a 17% stake through an American Depositary Receipts offering.
This has raised fears among workers about losing benefits.
The labor union, however, Thursday threatened to strike without notice should the ministry refuse to affirm the agreement.
In a statement Thursday, the union said Chunghwa Telecom shouldn't have applied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the ADR offering without first signing the agreement with them.
"The strike threat is a move to protect our rights," said the union's general affairs manager Yu Shih-Ging.
In Taiwan, a company is considered private if the government owns less than 50%.
-By Alex Pevzner, Dow Jones Newswires; 8862-2502-2557; alex.pevzner@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires"
Posted to the site on 8th July 2005
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/13400.php