Work leave hypocrisy
I took a month of sick leave to undergo surgery at the start of the year. Afterward, I returned to school and continued to teach.
According to the faculty and staff performance evaluation regulations, an “A” grade must not be given to a staff member who has more than 14 days of accumulated personal leave and sick leave, so I was given a “B” grade that semester and my performance bonus was decreased from a month’s pay to half a month’s pay.
As an entry-level teacher, I could only cede to the regulations.
However, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) has taken 113 days of leave because of the presidential election, but he is still likely to get the four months of pay, or NT$810,000, on top of a year-end bonus of NT$510,000.
That is not responsible behavior for a mayor. Would any company or public-sector job accept employees taking that much leave?
Hou has said that the regulations allow him to take his leave all at once, which he has accumulated for three years. What a shame that entry-level teachers and public officials do not have to adhere to the same standards.
A teacher who took more than 28 days leave would be given a C grade.
How can Hou take 113 days of leave, but still say that he was only absent for 77 working days by not counting weekends? How can he say that he would donate his pay to the city coffers?
What company would be generous enough to pay an employee who takes so many days off over a four-month period?
Yi Ho-hsuan
New Taipei City
Hotel prices are too high
The Mid-Autumn Festival holiday has just ended. The occupancy rates of Taiwan’s hotels were not as high as expected. One of the main reasons, as discussed on the Internet, was that hotel room prices were too high.
Meanwhile, the hotel industry says that affordable rooms are available, and due to soaring material prices, it is impossible to mitigate average hotel room price hikes.
Statistics released by the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications showed that the average booking rate for the first two days of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday was only 47.69 percent, the lowest among all consecutive holidays so far this year. For the Double Ten National Day holiday, the booking rate as of Sep. 22 had bounced back slightly to 54.75 percent.
These numbers are far from great. On the other hand, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s passenger volume keeps reaching new records. On Tomb Sweeping Day, the number reached 100,000; during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, it was 110,000, and now it has reached 120,000. Clearly, many have opted to traveling abroad rather than in Taiwan.
Taiwan’s hotel room rates are just too high. Even though we are facing inflation and price hikes apply to almost everything, the hotel room price hikes are simply too much to bear. A three-star hotel room costs a few thousand New Taiwan dollars per night; a five-star room rate is at least NT10,000. The majority of people would find this unaffordable.
Of course, affordable hotels are somewhere out there, but staying in one may be risky.
Meanwhile, traveling abroad usually costs less than NT$20,000. It is only natural that people would choose to do this as it is a much better deal than domestic travel.
I am to travel to Singapore and Malaysia
soon. Singapore’s living expenses are high, including its hotel prices, but I was able to pay NT$8,000 for a night at a five-star hotel room for three people, breakfast included.
In Malaysia, a five-star hotel room costsabout NT$3,000. Compared with Taiwan, overseas hotel room rates are more appealing.
If the occupancy rate in Taiwan is to be raised, the hotel industry should improve its service while making some adjustments to room rates. Only by doing so can the occupancy rate bounce back.
Hsu Chia-hsin
Taipei
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