German union to put pressure<br>on Siemens for BenQ issue

According to what IG Metall's head Juergen Peters has told the Welt am Sonntag BenQ should have received 110 million euros, earmarked for funding continued production at BenQ Mobile, which Taiwan's BenQ bought from Siemens about a year ago. "If that were the case, Siemens would have effectively paid BenQ to take the business away and dump it", he said in the interview published on Sunday. Those accusations where however denied by Siemens calling them "malicious and misleading", and said in a statement that it had made substantial efforts to give BenQ Mobile a solid start. "Among other things, the company was given comprehensive funds, valuable patents and the rights to use the Siemens brand," Siemens said in the statement. "In particular, the right to use the Siemens brand for up to five years shows that the company saw a long-term partner for the mobile business in BenQ." As evertiq earlier reported Siemens has set up a helping fund with more than 35 million euros to help staff affected by the bankruptcy.