Faced with the decision by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to close the Central Daily News, the newspaper's union yesterday threatened to hold a protest if the party failed to come up with a solid layoff plan by this afternoon.
The KMT's Central Standing Committee decided on Wednesday to close the newspaper, a KMT-owned Chinese-language newspaper that was established in 1951.
The newspaper was more than NT$47 million (US$1.5 million) in debt as of the end of last month, and with an average monthly loss of NT$8.4 million, it has become a financial burden for the party, KMT Spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文) said on Wednesday.
The newspaper's labor union issued a statement late on Wednesday denouncing the party's decision and said it will take legal action to protect the rights and interests of employees.
"To help continue the operations of the newspaper, the union sent sets of suggestions, but the party never replied ... We call on the KMT to negotiate and reach a consensus within three days on the issues of pensions and insurance," the statement said. The union also accused the party of negligence, saying that it owed the newspaper subsidies totaling NT$239 million.
The union said it would invite the KMT's integrity committee to investigate any possible mishandling of funds.
KMT Deputy Secretary-General Chang Che-chen (張哲琛) said that the party had been subsidizing the newspaper to the tune of NT$5 million every month, but this had made no improvement to its financial situation.
"The newspaper is a commercial organization, so it needs to be self-sufficient, rather than continually asking for money from the party ... We will not avoid the issue of layoffs," Chang said.
The newspaper has more than 70 employees. The KMT said it would stop subsidizing the newspaper at the end of this month, and the newspaper will formally cease operations on June 1.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS