Lawmakers yesterday questioned the legitimacy of granting severance pay to the assistants of National Assembly members -- a now defunct position after the assembly was effectively abolished last May -- warning that the plan would cost too much for the already cash-strapped government.
"I am surprised to have read today that the Executive Yuan has agreed to put aside NT$80 million as severance payments for the assistants of National Assembly delegates," New Party lawmaker Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said at a legislative session yesterday. "Once the precedent is set, it would cost the government around NT$2 billion a year to cover similar expenses that would be requested by lawmakers or other publicly elected representatives."
Echoing Lai's opinion, another New Party lawmaker, Hsieh Chi-ta (謝啟大), said that although legislators' assistants were entitled to severance payments in accordance with the legislature's Organizational Law (立法院組織法), legislators had never applied for the money, for fear of setting a bad example for other elected officials.
"If all publicly elected officials follow suit, it would be like the government throwing money down a bottomless pit, requiring an inexhaustible supply of funds," she said.
According to the Chinese language press yesterday, the Executive Yuan has agreed to a request made by the National Assembly Secretariat to earmark NT$80 million as severance pay for aides of national assembly deputies who were deprived of their jobs after the National Assembly was essentially scrapped on May 20 last year.
There used to be more than 300 assembly deputies, and each deputy was permitted to have two assistants whose salaries would be paid for by the government.
The report said that these 600 assistants would each receive NT$200,000 in severance pay for losing their jobs when the National Assembly was abolished, and that the deputies could file applications for the money by the end of August.
Lin Chuan (
"In 1998, the Council of Labor Affairs ruled that treatment of the aides of National Assembly delegates should be equivalent to that of legislators' assistants, who are under the protection of the Labor Standards Law (勞基法)," Lin said. "If lawmakers object to this regulation, they should first amend the legislature's Organizational Law."
When asked about the controversy yesterday, Liu I-te (劉一德), a former assembly deputy, said it was a reasonable request.
"It is just like any relationship between employees and employers. If the company closes, the workers are authorized to get severance pay," he said.
"There is nothing wrong with deputies trying to safeguard the rights of their assistants," Liu added.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a