The National Civil Servant Association yesterday demanded that the government roll back policies on educators’ and civil servants’ retirement income replacement ratios and adjust their ratios to match the newly amended replacement ratio ceiling for police officers and firefighters.
The Legislative Yuan on Tuesday passed amendments to the Police Personnel Management Act (警察人員人事條例), raising the maximum income replacement ratio to 80 percent for police officers, firefighters, and members of the coast guard and National Air Service Corps serving 36 years or more.
The pension reforms of 2018 had initially targeted laborers, educators, civil servants and the military, but removed laborers and the military from the reforms, association chairman Kao Shih-nan (高誓男) told a news conference yesterday.
Photo: Lin Hsin-han, Taipei Times
Removing police and firefighters from the reforms while stating that the Labor Pension Fund receiving additional subsidies “was a reform” shows that the reforms are unjust and undermine educators’ post-retirement security, he said.
The reforms have increased vocational confrontation and introduced social discord, he said.
The jobs of civil servants and educators provide social stability and smooth governance, and their pension should see a reasonable guarantee, instead of being reduced year on year, he said, urging the government to review the pension system for the military, civil servants and educators to ensure equality.
A reasonable income replacement ratio would ensure that civil servants and educators would have enough to maintain basic needs post-retirement, he added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁), who attended the news conference, said the nation would only improve if top-quality talent entered its service.
No one of decent education would want to work in a government where the state bullies its civil servants, and the government stands to suffer if it is managed by officials of inferior quality, he said.
The government has the wherewithal to extend good care to its public servants, he said.
If the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) continues to reduce civil servants’ pensions citing the imminent insolvency of the pension fund, it is evident that the party is not equipped to rule the country and another party should be given an opportunity, he said.
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) said there is a significant investment-return rate for the pension fund, and the government’s finances are in the green year-on-year, demonstrating full capability to increase the retirement income replacement ratio for civil servants and educators.
The government should reverse its reduction of civil servant and educator retirement income replacement ratios, and amend laws to guarantee the quality of post-retirement life for these two groups, Chang said.
Honorary chairman of the Joint Association for Civil Servants, Educators, Military, Police and Firefighters Liu Sheng-liang (劉盛良) said public servants and educators must receive fair treatment regarding their pensions.
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