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Cut government salaries: KMT caucus

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday urged the government to follow Singapore in seeking salary cuts for all government employees.

KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) made the remarks after Singapore’s Public Service Division said in a press release on Monday that top government officials, including Singaporean President S.R. Nathan, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍), administrative officers and political, judicial and statutory appointees would see their salaries drop between 11 and 19 percent next year.

KMT caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) backed Lo’s suggestion, adding that the scale of the cut should be determined according to the extent of public dissatisfaction with the government.

KMT Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福), however, said pay cuts would unfairly punish hardworking low-level officials.

Later yesterday, when asked whether the Executive Yuan would propose plans to cut salaries, Vice Premier Paul Chiu (邱正雄) said a comparison should not be made between Taiwan and Singapore.

“As far as I know, [senior] officials in Singapore are paid as much as private sector CEOs,” Chiu said. “They have an automatic adjustment mechanism, but our [government] salaries are fixed ... Our salaries are much lower than those of CEOs.”

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday said that while his caucus would not oppose a cut in the salaries of government officials, DPP lawmakers felt the benefits for the economy would be very limited.

“Such a measure is superficial. The DPP hopes the government will come up with real measures to boost the economy,” Ker said.

Meanwhile, the DPP caucus proposed a bill yesterday that would entitle households with an unemployed family member to a government loan of NT$300,000 (US$9,000).

DPP Legislator Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) told a press conference that the government should not only help banks and other companies in trouble, but also assist the unemployed and their families.

Pan said a worker can apply to the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) for a loan of NT$100,000 at the end of every year, but with unemployment on the rise, Pan said more people are ineligible for the loans.

The bill suggests that the government provide a NT$300,000 loan to households with a family member that has been laid off involuntarily and has not secured a new job within six months. The bill would require a budget of around NT$100 billion, Pan said.

Citing government statistics, DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said that in the third quarter 17,100 companies temporarily closed down their operations and 1,500 companies shut down permanently.

Around 1.35 million people were unemployed in the third quarter, a rise of 30,000 year-on-year, Huang said.

The government also reported this week that the jobless rate hit a five-year high of 4.37 percent last month, Huang said, adding that the government must prioritize this problem and calling on KMT legislators not to boycott the bill.

In response, Lo said yesterday that the KMT caucus would support the DPP caucus’ proposal if it would improve living standards.

“We welcome any proposals by the DPP as long as they benefit the nation’s economy, but we will never accept any proposals that are proposed to make trouble,” Lo said.

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