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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Postal workers eyeing 4％ pay increase
A mail carrier, right, delivers a letter to a woman in Taipei on May 26. Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
GREEN LIGHT? Chunghwa Post Department of Human Resources director Cheng Chih-neng said the company can give the 4 percent raise if its board approves
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
Chunghwa Post employees are to receive a 4 percent pay raise next year, like other government workers, the company said yesterday.
The pay increase — the largest in 25 years — applies to all government workers and takes effect on Jan. 1, the Executive Yuan said on Oct. 28.
“Employees of Chunghwa Post — a state-run corporation — are ‘quasi-civil servants,’ so the pay raise applies as well to postal workers,” Chunghwa Post chairman Wu Hong-mo （吳宏謀） told a media luncheon.
The company spends about NT$33 billion （US$1.19 billion） per year on personnel, Chunghwa Post president Chiang Jui-tang （江瑞堂） told reporters, adding that the pay hike would increase those costs by NT$1 billion.
Employees in non-managerial positions received pay increases in July, with the salaries of office workers increased by NT$4,850 per month and those in the field by NT$2,494 per month, he said.
The 4 percent raise would increase the salaries of entry-level workers by an additional NT$1,400 to NT$2,000 per month, Department of Human Resources director Cheng Chih-neng （鄭至能） said.
The company can only implement the 4 percent raise if its board approves it in a meeting at the end of this month, Cheng said.
The company said that it has earned substantial profits from stock investments this year.
As of October, the company had earned NT$11.2 billion from stock trades, it said, adding that it mainly invests in electronic and financial stocks.
“Savings account holders have NT$7.45 trillion in deposits in the company. After subtracting a required reserve fund and funds at the central bank, we put the remaining funds mainly in low-risk investments, which help generate fixed income. As stock trading has its risks, we limit the funds invested in the stock market to between NT$120 billion and NT$150 billion each year,” Department of Capital Operations director Lu Wen-wei （呂文偉） said.
Appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar cost the company about NT$7.9 billion in foreign-exchange losses this year, but the losses were within a controllable range, as overseas investment revenue is expected to exceed NT$20 billion this year, Lu said.
The company said that it also generates revenue from its savings accounts and bonds, with its pretax net profit exceeding NT$20 billion as of October.
Over the next year, the company would expedite the establishment of digital postal services, Department of Savings and Remittances director Chen Tung-liang （陳棟樑） said.
“We will consolidate two existing apps into a new app, which will allow customers to track pieces of mail and packages, make payments, transfer funds and exchange foreign currency,” Chen said, adding that the app is to be launched in March next year.
By the end of July next year, the company’s 3,200 automated teller machines are to have interfaces in Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese, Chen said.
“The service is necessary, as migrant workers from Southeast Asian countries account for about 6 percent of our checking account holders. They can use the soon-to-be-created app and remit the salaries in their accounts to family members in their home countries,” Chen added.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
