The National Teachers Associa-tion (NTA) yesterday called on the KMT caucus to press for legal revisions allowing them to form labor unions, while the Examina-tion Yuan pondered lowering interest rates on their savings.
Saying that all occupations should enjoy equal protection, the main opposition party promised to help.
Representatives from the NTA visited the KMT's legislative caucus yesterday morning to seek its support for amendments to labor rules that would permit teachers to organize labor unions. They are prohibited from doing so under existing codes.
NTA leader Liao Chun-jen (
Fellow petitioner Wu Chung-tai (吳忠泰) agreed, saying that the government failed to consult teachers before proposing scrapping the income tax exemption for soldiers and teachers.
To protest the planned policy change, tens of thousands of teachers are expected to take to the streets on Sept. 28 to mark Teacher's Day, Wu said.
KMT legislative whip Lee Chuan-chiao (
"It makes no sense to deny teachers the right to form labor unions when all other occupations are free to do so," Lee told the visitors.
Noting that the proposed restoration of income tax will have a severe impact on members of the armed forces and teachers, he said the KMT will not agree to cut the preferential interest rate on their savings.
Soldiers, teachers and government employees get a fixed interest rate of 18 percent on their savings. The average interest rate on savings for the rest of society is about 2 percent. It costs the government more than NT$40 billion a year in interest payments to these groups.
The TSU has made halving the privileged rate its top task for the next legislative session, arguing that the money should be used on more disadvantaged groups.
The Examination Yuan set up a panel yesterday afternoon to look into the matter.
Recently appointed Examination Yuan member Lee Ching-hsiung (
He observed that ensuing rises in their income have long rendered the privileged treatment unnecessary.
A vessel owned by Taiwan’s cargo container shipping company Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp caught fire after an explosion occurred in a container on board while the ship was at the busy Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan in eastern China on Friday. Yang Ming Marine confirmed the incident and said a preliminary investigation found that the explosion occurred in a container on its vessel, the YM Mobility, which reportedly arrived in Ningbo early on Friday morning after its last call in Shanghai. “Immediate fire control measures were taken, and the situation is now under control,” Yang Ming Marine said in a statement. “All crew
The number of foreign students attending Taiwanese universities last year dropped 9.46 percent from 2019, mainly due to a marked decline in the number of Chinese students, the National Audit Office said in a report. Last year, there were 116,038 foreign students — 67,299 degree students and 48,739 non-degree students — a decrease of 12,119, or 9.46 percent, from 128,157 in 2019, the report said. China in 2020 stopped allowing Chinese students to study in Taiwan, saying that COVID-19 pandemic controls and “the cross-strait situation” were the reasons for the change. Chinese who had already come to Taiwan were allowed finish their
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