Activists from a range of labor and welfare groups yesterday announced the establishment of an “Annuity Pension Reform Alliance,” demanding that presidential candidates commit to reforming national annuity pension systems.
The groups’ demands included that the candidates refrain from making empty promises to increase benefits and establish a “consultation platform” that would allow open and transparent discussion with civic groups.
“If there are no changes, we will probably go from having annuity pensions to not having them, because the nation probably would not be able to stand the pressure,” Taiwan Labor Front secretary-general Son Yu-liam (孫友聯) said, calling on candidates to make a credible commitment to reform, instead of just “buying votes” with promises to increase benefits.
National retirement benefits are currently provided by five separate pension funds. While benefits to the general population are provided through the National Pension and Labor Pension funds, retired military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers each have their own separate funds. In addition, retired farmers also receive monthly allowances from the national budget.
“Political and economic conditions, population trends, national finances and the outlook for economic growth all indicate that the a nation can no longer support the pension annuity system in its present form,” National Taiwan University sociology professor Fu Tsung-hsi (傅從喜) said.
The Alliance for Fair Tax Reform convener Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋) said that the pension fund for military personnel looks set to go bankrupt in 2019, with the labor and public-school teacher pension funds going bankrupt in 2027, and the civil servant fund in 2031.
He called for the review and reform of the different pension funds to be linked, with the goal of more closely integrating the funds to accommodate the inevitable cuts.
The different pension funds provide greatly disparate “guarantees” of financial security to retirees, he said. While the pensions for military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers are equal to between 80 percent to 90 percent of their salaries, benefits offered by the Labor Pension are equal to only 60 percent of workers’ salaries, he said.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant