Kuai Kuai union is strike-ready
By Hsieh Wu-hsiung and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Members of Kuai Kuai Co’s Jhongli Plant Union yesterday voted to authorize a strike if called for after the company’s closure of a major factory triggered sweeping layoff fears and dissatisfaction over wages.
The namesake manufacturer of the famous snacks — the green-bagged snacks workers often place on computers and servers as good luck charms — sold its factory in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢) on July 30 to Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE) for redevelopment.
In response, 158 members of the Jhongli Plant Union yesterday passed a motion to consider striking in protest of the move to and demand that the company make written guarantees on severance packages and pay raises.
Members of the Kuai Kuai Co’s Jhongli Plant Union attend a meeting in Taoyuan yesterday.
Photo courtesy of the union
The membership passed the proposition with 149 “yes” votes, two “no” votes and two abstentions, enabling the union to strike if its demands for wage hikes are not met.
A union spokesperson said the vote reflects worker dissatisfaction with the breakdown of negotiations on Wednesday, following the corporation’s refusal of demands in writing.
During a protest in Taipei on Monday, union president Liu Neng-fa (劉能發) said that Kuai Kuai Co did not inform workers of its land deal with the ASE group beforehand and they received only spoken guarantees that they would be relocated to a new facility in Hsinchu.
The sale of the property netted the company NT$5.6 billion (US$176.1 million), none of which benefits its workers, more than one-third of whom have worked for three decades or more for near-minimum pay, he said.
The company only revealed the factory’s relocation on Sept. 1 and announced a 5 percent increase in pay, which Liu said only kept pace with the government-announced legal changes to the minimum wage.
The union proposed that Kuai Kuai share part of its artificial intelligence windfalls with assembly-line workers, prioritizing those with seniority, and increase the monthly salaries of all workers by NT$10,000, Liu said.
The company said yesterday it respects the resolution passed at the union meeting, but regrets their decision.
It said it had held multiple rounds of discussions with the union to explain its position.
The company said it is continuing to negotiate the two proposals for compensation and preferential severance packages following the plant’s relocation with union representatives.
Barring any major changes, the two sides are expected to meet again this week to discuss the matter.
The Taoyuan Department of Labor said officials are monitoring the situation with an eye on arbitrating a mutually acceptable solution.
The company’s offer should respect the years of service of the workers and secure the livelihoods their labor had earned, it said.
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