The Executive Yuan should not monetarily reward retired public servants at next year’s Lunar New Year holiday, because such payments lack a legal basis and run counter to efforts to push for pension reform, the New Power Party (NPP) said yesterday.
As the first cross-caucus negotiation round drew to a close yesterday, the NPP held a news conference in Taipei to promote its pension reform platform.
Referring to a directive issued last week by Premier Lin Chuan (林全) to continue paying holiday bonuses to former public servants whose monthly pension is less than NT$25,000 (US$822.34), NPP caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said the NT$25,000 threshold was set by the Executive Yuan to justify the payments as they are not stipulated in any law.
Photo: CNA
The Executive Yuan last year resolved to stop issuing holiday bonuses to retired civil servants receiving a pension of more than NT$25,000 for the Lunar New Year, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The rule change is expected to save the government NT$870 million annually.
Lin’s order triggered speculation that the government is attempting to appease civil servants to avoid intensifying the already strong opposition to pension reform efforts.
During the regular legislative session, which wrapped up last month, the NPP proposed that the budget for holiday bonuses be slashed, but the proposal was vetoed, Hsu said.
The Executive Yuan should scrap the plan to bring its policy in line with pension reform efforts, he said.
NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) also called for the “total abolition” of the 18 percent preferential interest rate on savings accounts for retired public servants hired before 1995.
According to a draft put forward by the Presidential Office’s Pension Reform Committee, this group of pensioners — who under the old pension system had claimed their pension in full — would still receive a 6 percent interest rate after a proposed civil servant pension bill is passed, in addition to a proposed bottom limit for pensions received by public servant, set at NT$32,000.
“We understand that some retired civil servants need to be taken care of, but that is covered by the ‘bottom limit,’” Huang said.
The NPP has proposed setting the lower limit for civil pensions at NT$22,208, the median value of people’s disposable income, he said.
Huang called on legislative caucuses not to leave any “loose ends” by allowing former civil servants to keep a 6 percent interest rate, saying that otherwise they would only be going halfway on reform efforts.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party