A New Power Party lawmaker yesterday called for the new legislative session to commence soon to discuss government subsidies for planned disease prevention leave for civil servants and other workers, while the National Federation of Teachers’ Unions urged for educators to be eligible for paid leave.
On Sunday, the Central Epidemic Command Center announced that the start of the academic year for all schools nationwide would be pushed back to at least Feb. 25.
As a result, one parent of children aged 12 or younger would be eligible to take unpaid leave between Tuesday next week and Feb. 24.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The government should not leave workers at the mercy of its policies and should offer partial wage compensation, New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said.
The Executive Yuan’s secondary reserve fund has NT$5.5 billion (US$182.4 million) in current expenditure and NT$1.9 billion in capital expenditure, Chiu said, adding that the Labor Insurance Fund or other special budgets would also be viable alternatives.
Precedents set during the SARS outbreak should be observed, he said, adding that the government, after asking the private sector to calculate wages for paid leave, subsidized that amount during the 2003 outbreak.
Subsidizing at least the minimum leave payout would give workers funds for basic living requirements, he added.
The federation said that educators should be eligible for paid disease prevention leave.
Working parents taking such leave would be for “the greater public good” and neither employers nor employees should have to take responsibility for approving or taking the leave, federation president Chang Hsu-cheng (張旭政) said.
The Directorate-General of Personnel Administration set a bad example by deciding that the leave should be unpaid, he said.
The government should consider using the Employment Security Fund or the National Health Insurance Poverty Relief Fund, or cut taxes, to allow employers and employees to implement disease prevention measures, he added.
As the Ministry of Labor stated that the disease prevention leave is an emergency measure applicable to all parents of children 12 or younger, teachers should not be exempt, Chang said.
The federation said that it has sent the Ministry of Education a letter calling on it to adopt similar measures and notify schools of its decision.
The competent authorities at the Executive Yuan should not issue separate announcements for civil servants and educators, but rather a joint statement after internal discussion, the federation said.
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