The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday finally consented to support Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) in scaling down year-end pension benefits for government retirees at Lunar New Year next year.
With the consensus reached among KMT lawmakers, the legislature is expected to cut the benefits budget of NT$20.2 billion (US$694.1 million), included in the government’s budget statement for next year, to NT$1.14 billion when the budget bill goes to the legislative floor.
The initial budget was to be distributed to 445,708 retirees from the military, the government, public schools and state-owned enterprises who have opted to receive their retirement pensions in monthly installments instead of one lump sum. Every retiree used to receive a bonus equivalent to 1.5 months of their pre-retirement salary ahead of the Lunar New Year, similar to year-end bonuses for active civil servants.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
If the budget is cut as planned, an estimated 42,000 people will still receive the bonus — retirees or the families of deceased retirees who receive a monthly retirement pension of less than NT$20,000 and families of retirees who were killed, injured or disabled in wars, on military exercises or in other public service.
The decision was made at a caucus meeting attended by 60 KMT lawmakers, out of a total of 64.
Speaking after the meeting, KMT caucus whip Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said his caucus “has held in high esteem” retired military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers, and “felt sorry” for them about the decision.
“However, in consideration of the situation the nation is in and its fiscal position, we should cut our coat according to our cloth. We have to make necessary adjustments,” Wu said.
The bonuses for government retirees, the scale of which is decided on a yearly basis, have been in place since 1972, with just a few exceptions where the government suspended their distribution or reduced the size of the bonus when the nation was in financially difficult situations.
In early October, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) raised doubts over the pension system, at a time when Chen appeared reticent to guarantee pensions under the Labor Insurance Fund, which is heading for bankruptcy. This highlighted the long-existing gap between benefits for the ordinary working class and civil servants, a major reason the pension was found not to be justified.
The DPP demanded that the pension system be done away with once and for all on the grounds that the legitimacy of the subsidy is also questionable.
Through the decades, distribution of the bonus was not dictated by law, but was based on a “note” the Cabinet drew up at the end of every year.
Chen only agreed that the proposed limited coverage of the bonus policy will be applicable for this coming Lunar New Year, but he has promised to institutionalize the system by enshrining it in law. He has not given a timeframe.
At the KMT caucus meeting, KMT Legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千), whose constituents in Taoyuan County are mostly beneficiaries of the pension, proposed that the caucus hold a secret ballot to decide on the caucus’ stance on the issue — a way in which a rejection of Chen’s reform plan could be engineered.
Sun’s proposal was voted down 11-23. After about 16 lawmakers offered opinions on the issue, with some still voicing opposing views, Wu proposed a motion to support the Cabinet proposal, which was then approved by acclamation.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
RSS