The strike led by the Peach Industry Association has been questioned! Micron engineer reveals: It may not be purely for the welfare of employees

Micron Taoyuan Labor Union announced a 24-hour strike on the morning of October 22.

[Reporter Liao Jianing/Taipei Report] The dispute over rewards and remuneration at Micron's Taoyuan plant still needs to be resolved, and the investment progress of the new Taoyuan plant has also attracted much attention. It is worth noting that Wei Yuling, secretary-general of the Micron Taoyuan Labor Union, is not a Micron employee, but the secretary of the external trade union organization "Peach Industry Federation" (Taoyuan City Industrial Federation). Many non-Micron employees (Peach Industry Federation representatives) participated in the compensation negotiation meetings between Micron labor and management. An unnamed Micron engineer said that Micron labor and management have made preliminary progress, and he has reservations about whether the Peach Industry Corporation's continued promotion of the strike at this time can improve employee welfare. He questioned that the Peach Industry Corporation's promotion of the strike is not purely based on the welfare of workers.

It is reported that Micron and Taoyuan have a total of 5 formal consultation meetings, namely on September 4, September 21, October 21, October 27 and November 6. The first two were mediator meetings requested by the Taoyuan labor union, because no agreement was reached in the first two. The next three were negotiated meetings between the two parties hosted by the Taoyuan City Government. So far, the Taoyuan City Government has been represented by Labor Director Li Xianxiang. It was not until the recent meeting on November 6 that Taoyuan Mayor Zhang Shanzheng attended for the first time. At every meeting, many non-Micron employees (representatives of the Taoyuan Industry Association) participate in negotiations, and the Taoyuan City Government does not prohibit this. In addition, after Micron reached an agreement with the Taichung labor union, the Taoyuan labor union claimed that there was a problem with the agreement and launched an attack on Taichung union cadres. Finally, the Taichung labor union called the police.

Micron signed a labor agreement with the Taichung union on October 21. The originally planned mediation was later withdrawn. The Taoyuan union questioned the withdrawal procedure. Some union members were dissatisfied and threatened to use violence against Taichung union officials and called for tire pokes. The Taichung union subsequently issued a statement calling for rational resistance and reporting to the police.

According to the latest salary and benefit adjustment plan announced by Micron on the 22nd, there are three major results. First, the salary of more than 80% of the personnel has been increased by nearly 2.7 times. The number of production line personnel has increased from 630,000 to more than 2 million, the number of junior engineers has increased from 1.45 million to 4 million, and the number of mid- and high-level engineers has increased from more than 2 million to 6 million. Second, the labor union has also secured an increase in employer contributions for retired workers to 10%, which is better than the industry. Third, for front-line production line shift workers, the daily shift allowance has been tripled (adjusted from 1,500 yuan to 4,500 yuan). In addition, a new quarterly profit sharing bonus and an additional 3 days of paid leave will be added.

It is worth noting that Wei Yuling, the general secretary of Taoyuan Industry, is not a Micron employee, but has become the secretary-general of the Micron Taoyuan Trade Union and is a representative at every consultation meeting. We also observed the interaction between the Peach Industry Association and Taoyuan Mayor Zhang Shanzheng. Zhang Shanzheng announced his re-election this year. On October 12, the Labor Support Association was established. Shi Shuhua, the former chairman of the Peach Industry Association, even came to support.

Regarding the outcome of the negotiations between the Taichung labor union and the company, an anonymous Micron engineer said bluntly that there is now a preliminary consensus in labor negotiations and welfare has indeed improved. He does not believe that the Taoyuan Union Peach Product General Representative launched the strike purely for the welfare of workers. Another Micron engineer said that the Taichung union is composed of Micron engineers, but he did not know that the secretary-general of the Taoyuan union is the secretary-general of an external organization, but anyone can fight for benefits.

Micron has already added new production capacity outside of Taoyuan. However, if the Taoyuan union strike brings uncertainty to the new Taoyuan factory, Micron may stop expanding its investment in Taoyuan and shift to other counties and cities. Whether Micron will adjust the construction period or investment location of the new Taoyuan factory in the future remains uncertain and remains to be determined.