As the Executive Yuan’s Labor Insurance Fund reform proposal is listed on the legislative agenda this week, the government should try to close the gap between the maximum insurance salary and the minimum monthly pensions of civil servants and private-sector workers, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said yesterday.
“The fundamental goal of the reform should be the elimination of occupational differences and generational differences,” lawmakers Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) told a press conference.
The lawmakers jointly submitted a three-point proposal: Raise the maximum insurance salary for private-sector workers, which is now NT$43,900; exclude private-sector retirees who receive a monthly pension of less than NT$32,160, which is the minimum monthly payment for retired civil servants, from the current reform package; and establishe a uniform starting year of the reform plan for both public-sector and private-sector workers.
In terms of calculations of retirement pensions, the gap between the two groups has been astonishing, which was exactly why the pension reform has drawn controversy, Wu said.
Private-sector workers’ maximum insurance salary pales in comparison to civil servants, she said, adding that civil servants also have their basic salary doubled as the calculation base, further widening the pension gap.
Meanwhile, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has set the minimum monthly pension for civil servants at NT$32,160, citing a Council of Grand Justices interpretation that said it would be the income for retirees to “maintain the minimum standard of living,” the minimum monthly pension for private-sector workers is NT$3,000, less than one-tenth of the civil servants’, Chen said.
“We have argued that the income for retirees to maintain the minimum standard of living should be the same regardless of your occupation,” Chen said.
Therefore, retired private-sector workers receiving less than NT$32,160 per month should not be included in the current reform plan, which is about to reduce private-sectors retirees’ pension, he said.
The lawmakers called for the government to halt its plan for an immediate implementation of the Labor Insurance Fund reform, saying that it was unfair because public-sector workers would not have to face shrinking pensions until 2023.
“Again, fairness is the keyword here. A reform plan without fairness and justice would neither be welcomed nor successful,” Chen said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS